


The 8th Loser

by Redheadclover



Category: IT (2017), IT - Stephen King
Genre: F/M, The 8th loser, richie x OC
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-07-25
Updated: 2019-05-13
Packaged: 2019-06-16 00:31:22
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 19
Words: 55,926
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15425052
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Redheadclover/pseuds/Redheadclover
Summary: After facing a near death experience and being hearing impaired, Molly never expected to make friends in Derry, Maine.  Not even with the self proclaimed Loser's Club, whom gave her more confidence than she ever imagined.  But now that she's the 8th member of the club, she experiences the horror of IT with the Losers.  From seeing her own demons thanks to Pennywise, to following IT in the sewers to finish him off.  Molly thought she left it all behind when she fled Maine after IT's defeat.But she made a promise.Now 27 years later, Molly has some decisions to make.  She has to choose to help her friends, to rekindle a spark that could have happened, and to decide to be brave.Or let IT once again win.





	1. Are You There?

"Make sure these files go in correctly this time,"

"You got it, Commander Harper." I walked from one office space where I talked to one of the lieutenants over to where my office was, seeing the business of the station there on the 3rd floor. Some of the other were working away on getting their paperwork done before they were done for the night. I could see the sun going down on the bay area, glistening the Golden Gate bridge as more calls were being brought it and I heard some footsteps behind me.

"Ma'am, you have a call on hold," The sergeant explained to me. One of my favorites: Inspector Gibbs. He was older than me and yet he showed me a good amount of respect when I got my recent promotion as the new Commander of our branch. He had a clean-shaven face with a smirk always etched on his face.

"You make it sound as if I have nothing to do at the moment," I replied to him as I was walking through the crowded area. I moved my short hair from my eyes, feeling it brush over the device attached to my ear.

"If that were the case I would have wined. But apparently, this is important," He replied calmly to me, having me chuckle now as I finally made my way over to my office which was right on the corner of the floor. It was the one place that I could find some peace and quiet, plenty of it compared to the hustle and bustle of the main floor.

"Every call for me nowadays is important," I replied over my shoulder, "Just let whoever's on the line know that I'm busy at the moment trying to make sure at least three cases won't go south, if you don't mind, Inspector."

"You can tell them yourself on line 3," He snorted at me. having me look at him from the corner of my eye and see him roll his eyes at me and walk away back to his own desk. I had to chuckle, our banter was always light and never one to be dark.

Once I reached my office, I closed the door and finally breathed a sigh of relief. My office was nice and quiet, plenty of soothing colors in both my pictures and in my memorabilia. I had some of my rewards there along the wall, a reminder of my own worth and need in the community there in the busy city of San Francisco. A small love seat sofa in the corner was a deep shade of blue with two brown chairs in front of my desk. My laptop was already open as my phone was blinking at me from the call that was waiting or me. I walked over to where my own chair was, sitting and sinking in for a moment or two before I finally picked up my phone. I clicked the blinking button, finally getting on the line with whoever needed to talk to me.

"This is Commander Harper with the San Francisco Police Department, how can I help you?"

"Molly Harper?" I shifted a bit now I heard the deep voice on the other end of the line. I felt uneasiness already there.

"This is she. Who is this?" I asked, not wanting to sound rude about it and yet I wanted to know who I was talking to. It almost seemed, from the back of my mind, that I knew that voice. That I heard it before long ago.

"This is Mike Hanlon." I froze there in my spot, having em ow hand clutch the phone in a life grip and my blood goes intently cold. I was instantly rethinking back to some moments long ago, when I was younger and when I thought I was going to die.

_**"Molly!"** _

_**"BURN IN HELL!"** _

"Molly? Are you there?" I gulped, trying to find my voice now as I was feeling like I was on the edge of a cliff and about to jump off without a second thought. That sinking stomach of a feeling was under my skin. I haven't felt this way in years, almost a decade or so now as I took in one more shaky breath.

"I'm sorry… I think my cochlear implant is lost its batteries. You're….Mike Hanlon?" I asked now in a shaky tone, no longer sounding like the commander that I was and that I worked years for and almost bled my own blood for. No, I was back to being that small girl…back to being timid and trying to find my own strength.

"Hello, Molly. Good to hear from you," He replied on the other end, having me close my eyes for a brief moment. I knew him, I could picture him within my own memory and my own brain now. He was a kind soul, someone that could reach within you and protect you if he could, Those brown eyes, that kind smile he had even though he was from a rough side of town. I remembered all of him,

I instantly turned the call on speaker, rushing up from the chair and walking over to lock the door to my office with a click. I felt a rush hitting my hard, the need to not have other ears in on this now made it even more intense now as I took a moment to just breath and collect my own thoughts.

"Molly? Did I lose you again?" Mike asked over the speakerphone. I had to smile, although I haven't heard his voice in two decades, it was still soothing to hear.

"Yeah, I'm here," I replied walking over to the chair slowly now as I was trying to picture an adult Mike in my head, "Wow. Mike Hanlon! Didn't think I would hear from you again."

"I didn't think I would be calling you at the Police Department," Mike confessed with a light chuckle, "Then again I didn't picture you as someone who would grow up to be a commander."

"A lot of people thought the same thing," I admitted him, a small smile tugged at my lips now. But the next three words that came out of his mouth as enough to make me both want to vomit and want to scream out at the same time. My heart dropped to my feet and my hair soot on end at the back of my neck now as Mike told me something in such a serious tone. Nothing prepared me for this, not those three words.

"Molly….It's back."

* * *

  
I walked back to my apartment, saying nothing and feeling nothing at all within me as I was weaving my way through the crowded streets of people going to bars or clubs. I made the rest of my staff go home early after that phone call, and although I got intense and yet crazy stares from it, they weren't going to argue with me. It was a Friday night, so the whole town was buzzing with activity and people already thinking of making some bad decisions. I didn't think about those people though, I was only thinking of one thing:

IT was back.

I didn't think I would be so terrified in my life, let alone that the sinking feeling hit me lost like bullets. I could remember all of those time, seeing that face of whatever it was, pouring IT's eyes into my own and showing me own my fear. If I was only in those moments, I knew I wouldn't have survived. Hell, if I was alone most of the time in my old town, I knew I wouldn't have survived then either.

But I had the Loser's Club.

They were the only ray of light in those memories, being able to stick together and defeat that demon once. We were strong together, I knew we were when it came to going down in those sewers. I could already feel my skin crawl from thinking of those dark stinking sewers, the constant feeling of not being clean ever again or be sane ever again. Those kids were the only ones that accepted me as one of their own. They weren't supposed to, not in my mind at least since they had each other. To me, I was the outsider.

I didn't belong to them. But to them I did.

I turned into my apartment building, walking into the lobby and seeing the same receptionist that has been working there since I moved into the place about a year ago because of the recent promotion. The lobby itself looking a bit modern, it was a newer building no doubt since that tore down the old building that's been around for about 60 years. Someone people were in an uproar about it, but now the new building was housing the newly rich and famous. Funny how I was included in that population.

"Hello, Gertie," I said and signed to her in my lower tone, seeing her finally look up from her small TV. I could hear from my good ear she was watching some kind of soap opera. She reminded me of those dark queens that were famous within the clubs of Castro, and yet she was still a woman. Either way, she was fabulous. Thankfully, she was one of those friends that were willing to know some sign for me since I had off days with my implant and that hearing could come and go.

"Hello sweetie," She replied both with her hands and in her drawl of a tone, “Lock up any bad guys tonight?”

 

“No, but the night is still young,” I commented with a swift of my fingers, hearing her chuckle now as she was tapping her finger against the the small TV that she had perched on the countertop.

 

“You hearing the news lately?” She asked me as I was ascending the stairs on step at a time, “Some small town out in Maine is on the news, something about a mass celebration of a town’s anniversary.Aren’t you from Maine, dear?”

 

“Sure am,” I replied smoothly as  looking over at the mirror that was on the wall. I could see what I looked like: in my older thirties and my face showing the small amounts of lines that was clear sign that I was getting old. My hair, though a darker shade of brown and red mixed together, was cut short enough to see my neck but long enough to hide my ears. And there on my left side, my cochlear implant was resting against my head. It was the newest design, top of the along according to my doctor, but I didn't feel that. 

 

“And as a thanks for the continue efforts of the poodle force here in the town of Derry—“ I whipped my head around to see the TV still playing on the section on the news, Gertie clearly not listening as I was seeing the small image and the was seemed to be some kind of mass collection of balloons……wait.

 

Balloons.

 

Something screeched in my cochleae implant, having me squint andgrab the implant now.it’s been decades since I’ve had a problem with my hearing, not since I was a kid and I had a second hand implant after my first surgery.I remember it being too big, almost a bit lopsided on my ear now, but that was when I was a little girl, when I thought I was just a broken human from what happened to me. 

 

When the screeching stopped, I blinked a few times, breathing in and out slowly to make sure that it was real.How was it that I was having something like this happening to me?My new cochlear that I was wearing there was the best of the best, not one problem even slipped through.Yet that screech made me feel like I was testing them out for the first time a long time ago back in Derry.

 

Derry.If happened when the T.V. mentioned the town, having me snap my eyes there on the screen when were was a massive red balloon there on the screen.Once I saw the balloon, something within me and underneath my skin was threatening to boil over.I sprinted to the top of the stairs, running down the hallway as fast as I could and I finally made it to my room which was at the corner.After a moment of two of unlocking the door, I slammed the door shut and slammed my back against the door, falling to the ground and hugging my knees around me.The dry sobs were coming through my lips now as I was closing my eyes shut and trying to at least breathe. 

 

It was coming back in waves, wave after wave.Something that brought me back to that moment being younger and being more vulnerable was about to make me sick.I thought I forgot all of it, that it all left my memories and stopped haunting me.But now it was all flooding back to me, all because of one being.

 

Because of IT.


	2. Wanna be my friend?

I lost my hearing in my right ear when I was 4 years old.

My father, to say the very least, was not in the right place within his own state of mind. I didn't know if it was from the alcoholism that was streaming in his veins, or if he was just miserable with his own life of being in the factory of Derry Maine, but all in all, he was not loved by his community. In fact, people asked my mother why she stuck around with him.

She wondered too.

Up until I was a little younger, my mother finally got it in her brain to have the nerve to try and leave my father. And yet, it backfired on both herself and me really when my father got wind of the potential divorce. He took me in the middle of the night while my mother was talking on the phone with my grandmother, driving along the side of one of the main roads that went against a rive. Of course, of all things that did involve rage and alcohol, he crashed into another car and we fell into the river.

I lost my hearing that night, all because of my father and his need of the power.

It also introduced me to my fear of drowning and water. I remember my lungs being filled with water, gasping for the last bits of air as I was sinking with the car and not able to move. The lights above me with the movements of the water were shifting and changing, the vast fear of dying engulfing me and making me stir crazy. Luckily, one car that was spared from the wreckage and saw the car I went down in stopped and the man driving pulled me out in time. My father, at first nowhere to be seen, was off along the shoreline with his head ins his hands and his back to me.

He didn't even bother to save me.

I was unconscious when the police showed up a few minutes later, being held by the man who saved me and the cops arrested my father. He was too drunk to run off and hide, and I haven't heard from him since. My right ear was too damaged for repair because of the crash and water trauma, my mother was on the verge of despair thinking she lost her only child. It was a miracle that I survived, but the next few years felt more miserable for me than before.

I had to start over.

I had to learn sign language, although I could still speak and hearing a bit in my good ear, it was not good enough for me to carry one. My mother was a nurse already, working at the Derry Hospital and was already researching anything that could help me. Up until age 8, I was trying so hard to blend back in with normalcy, but people already were seeing me as the girl who almost died by her drunk father. Children isolated me, adults felt sorry for me, and all in all I just wanted to be loved by someone else than my mother who was slowly losing hope for some kind of normalcy for me and a normal life. None the less she was supportive, learning to sign herself and never treating me different. I found a new small sense of bravery from her, being a single mother with a half-deaf child in a small enough town where a stain on your name could ruin you.

She persisted.

 

* * *

 

**Age 7**

I made my first real friend when I was 7 years old, right when I started Kindergarten in Derry. It's been a few years since my accident and my father leaving my life, and with small attempts to learn Sign Language thanks to the research at my mother's hospital, I was not in the mood to make any new friends. Sure it was hard enough to be 7-year-olds and starting school. But being called "Gimp" already at least two dozen times by other children to and from the grocery store and on the street was going to make it worst.

And yet was it worse.

On my first day of school, by the time recess came around, I was already miserable. My teacher was somewhat kind enough to place me at the front of the room, already making it harder for me to try and hear with my good ear the whispers and murmurs of the kids behind me and what they were thinking about me and my ear. Of course, they thought I was completely deaf, and yet I could still hear some things here and there and just got through the first half of the morning. It didn't matter that I was one of the smartest kids, all that mattered was that my father tried to kill me and left me with a dead ear.

I sat outside during recess and watched the other kids play in the grass, already knowing that they didn't want me to play with them at all or just be around them. I didn't want to be there, I wanted to be home where I knew I felt as normal as possible. I felt very out of place anywhere in that town. But while I was wallowing in my own self-pity, someone walked up to me. It made me look up, not seeing him walk up to be sooner or look at me, not with a look of judgment like the others. He gave me a look of curiosity, pure curiosity.

The first thing I noticed was his glasses, that seemed too big for his head.

  
"Hey," he said to me, his voice sounded almost a bit squeaky as he was looking at me. I also noticed he had black hair on his head, a bit shaggy on top of his pale head and a few freckles on his nose. He was wearing a shirt that was a bit too large on his skinny body, along with baggy shorts and a pair of large sneakers. Almost a bit too comical compared to the other kids on the playground.

He said something else, pointing to where I was sitting. I didn't hear him at first, tilting my good ear in his direction now as he said it again since he could tell I wasn't hearing him.

"You're in my spot." Oh, of course, he tells me to move. I was about to get up, getting myself a bit of a tour look now as he shook his head and held his hands out.

"You don't have to move," he reassured me, having me look at him now in confusion as he finally sat down next to me in a huff. I looked at him in shock now as he was watching the game they were playing on the grass. I kept my eyes on him now as he was watching the others kids as more of an observer and he pushed his glasses up his nose with his fingers.

"I like sitting here and seeing them trip over themselves," he explained to me, having me look at what he was seeing too. Just like he said, one of the kids tripped and collided with another kid from running too fast. The boy chuckled and I had to look back at him, "They don't know how to run. Idiots. Now me, I can outrun them!"

For some odd reason, I had to smile at how confident he sounded about himself. He even sounded a bit cocky about himself, and yet it sounded casual. He stared at me finally, having me see his eyes that seem bigger behind the big rimmed glasses.

"You're name's Molly, right?" he asked me, making me not say anything at first but nod my head. At this point, I was afraid to talk to someone and have them hear my struggling with my hearing. He nodded, "I remember seeing you at the hospital with your mom. She helped my dad one time when he was sick. My mom told me he had a stomach ache, but he gets those a lot I guess. Anyways, you were sitting at a desk eating a peanut butter cookie—"

"It was chocolate chip," I cut in, finally wanting to have him bot stop talking and to at least say something and not seem like a mute. He finally stopped and looked at me, seeing me watching him to find his reaction to me talking. Was he going to freak out? Was he going to laugh at me? What did I just do? He slowly and surely smiled, a big one no his face too as I felt some of the weight leave me within a breath.

"Wanna be my friend?" He asked me, having me raise an eyebrow at him. No one has asked me that before, it felt like there was some kind of unspoken rule that I couldn't have any more friends for the rest of my life. People were staying away from me, talking behind my back and giving me negative stigmas. And yet, this little boy with his big glasses was looking at me with hope in his eyes to be my friend. I nodded my head at him.

"Cool, I'm Richie Tozier."

* * *

 

**Current Day**

My apartment was on the corner of the floor, getting a great view of the rolling hills that were occupied with houses and roads.It was a great view, the main reason I bought in on the spot.I loved watching the constant moving of the lights from cars while drinking some red wine, I was never mad that I was living alone.it was soothing really, being away from the chaos of the office and the police station. 

 

I had a blue sofa and love seats situated in the middle of the living area, a window seat against the large windows that showed the view.The kitchen was on the right side, an open space that had the dining room next to it and the doorway that lead to the bedrooms and bathrooms.Everything was in shades of blue, dark and soothing as I had small trinkets from travels and adventures that I went on when I moved out to San Francisco.It was both cluttered and organized at the same time, which was what I needed. 

 

Once my own episode of a panic attack was down and over with, I finally got up from the hardwood floor andstood there in the front area where my front door was.I tried to even out my breathing again, remembering all of those times in training and in a few therapy sessions that I went to after I moved out of Derry.My own brain was coming back to the normal state of mind, and I could see within my living room.

 

“Get it together, Molly,” I muttered to myself and I rubbed my own face aggressively, “Get your shit together.”I walked over to the open kitchen and instantly went for the red wine that was perched on the counter. Getting myself a glass ready, I took one small sip and tried to rethink the last few hours within my own head. 

 

Mike called me, one of the seven losers that I befriended as a kid.He was the last one to join our group, I could see him as a child in my head now as I heard his voice on the phone.He sounded so different and yet the same, soothing and yet raw at the same time as I could remember being around him and the others.Oh, the others!

 

How could I forget them?They were all my closest friends, and it felt like I needed them as much as they needed me.Did they need me?It was one of those questions that I would ask myself all the time when I was with them, from time to time.

 

I took another sip of the red wine as I was reminiscing all of those face, and now I know why I was thinking about them.

 

IT.

 

why was it that now that I was rememberingwhat happened to us now when I was old enough and well into my adult life, on the other side of the country no doubt, and yet all of these past moments and thoughts were giving into my brain like a freight train.Not only did I remember those faces of my friends, but I could remembering other things as well: the sound of running water in the sewers, the distinct smell of the sewers, and the image of that clown.It was scaring me, almost once again making me freeze up there in the kitchen and drop my own red wine glass. 

 

I had to take a deep breath, not wanting to spiral myself down in another moment of panic again.It made me feel as though all of that training that I went through as a cop was now out of the window and I was back to being a 12 year old again.It wasn’t okay for me to get scared over something like this that happened so many years ago.

 

Without even thinking about it, I placed my own hand down and tapped on the counter top a few times, a tick I used to do when I was younger but I would tap my implant.Since I grew out of it and tapped other things, that last thing I wanted to do was tap my implant.But once I was done tapping my hand there on the counter top, I noticed something there within the palm there along my skin.I stopped and looked at , a small sliver there that was a distinct scar.I knew it was a scar, but up until this point I had no idea who I got that scar. In the past I thought it was something I got from being on patrol, or I maybe knicked it while I was working on my first apartment when I moved here in San Francisco. 

 

But now I remembered where I got it from, closing my eyes and hearing it all within my head.

 

_“Swear.”_

 

I opened my eyes, knowing then that there shouldn’t be any kind of hesitance there in what I had to do.There was no reason for me to say no to this, even if we were kids.It might have seem silly to others, but they didn’t know what we went though: they didn’t know how we barely were killed by some kind of demon that wanted us all dead, along with plenty of others in our town.How we felt alone and isolated since the adults weren’t going to do anything about it since it seem as though they knew nothing.But we knew, and we knew if that thing came back to kill more children, we were going to destroy it once and for all.

 

I drank down the last of my wine before I walked over to my laptop, looking up flights over into Derry Maine.

 


	3. What?  No Shotgun?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Few notes:
> 
> 1.) I use Italics for when Molly is signing, either solo or when she's talking and signing at the same time!
> 
> 2.) I'm trying to stick with the 2017 version, but I'll think about when it comes to both the 2017 or 1990!
> 
> 3.) Let me know how I'm doing!

**Age 9**

I slammed my fist on the table, clearly frustrated with how I was trying to both go through my therapy and not kill myself over it. I had to go to therapy to help with my hearing, which was something that my mother co-workers were suggesting that I would do in order to be more "normal".

I was learning sign language at the same time, my mother doing the same since ASL would better help me communicate. First would be signing, then I could try and move through the therapy that was ahead of me. I was still affected by what happened to me with my father that therapy would have been the best option for me to just go back to normal.

But it was harder than I thought.

The therapist that was sitting across from me now was a bit shocked that I did that in front of him. My mother, watching from the corner of the room, cleared her throat slightly and the therapist finally looked over at her. I held my head in my hands and was trying not to cry out loud, but I was fed up trying to talk normally again and not sound off.

"Can I have a moment alone with her, please?" She asked him. He nodded his head, going out of the room before I could even look up at him. I felt hot tears hitting my face hard, having me blubber a bit before my mother touched my hand with her soft hand. I stopped crying, feeling her wrap her slender fingers around my wrist and not putting any pressure on it. I looked up at her, seeing her give me one of her rewording smiles that could calm any storm. But I wasn't smiling at her now as she took the seat across from me where that therapist sat.

"I can't do it," I said to her, cringing hearing myself talk and only hearing half of it from my good ear.

"Yes you can," She reminded me, having me shake my head now as she took her other hand and moved my hair out of my eyes, "I know you can, Molly. It's hard, I know it is, but you cannot give up on this." I breathed out a shaky breath now as I fairly got my other hand to work and sign back to her.

 _"I'm not good enough_." I signed to her in frustration, seeing her give me a grave face now as she finally grabbed my chin gracefully and held it there for me to see her sign with her one hand.

" _You are good enough, you understand?_ " She asked me, flicking her pointer finger in the air by her head to see if I understood. I watched her look at me with her eyes, telling me with her eyes and showing me she was not giving up on me either. I couldn't, not yet while I was still willing to change what happened to me.

 _"You are still my daughter, and you are perfect in my eyes._ " She explained with both of her hands now as I was staying still, another tear hitting my cheek, "I don't care if your father didn't see it. I see it," I slowly smiled at her. it was the first time she spoke about my father without hesitance. She was no longer afraid to talk about him or what he did, she wore it and walk with her head held high.

"I found something at work that could help you out, but it's a little more drastic," My mother spoke to me, having me title my head at her now as I was shifting a bit now in my chair. I didn't understand what it was as we both saw the door open and my therapist came back in to sit in the chair next to her.

"Molly," the therapist started, "Your mother has a mass amount of resources at the hospital, some of them can be put to good use in your therapy sessions and that could help you later on in life. One of them, which has a high approval rate of being successful, also involves surgery." he explained. I looked from him over to my mother. She wanted me to see what I was going to say and if I was going to say anything. I took in my own deep breathe, feeling my own leg jingle a bit in my seat.

"This can be successful for you since you are still developing and your hearing can develop alongside with this procedure. There have been high success rates with this among children your age who have it, and with our therapy sessions to go with it, you'll be improving greatly," He explained some more, having me feel a twinge of uneasiness in my damaged ear. I touched it would of instinct, something I would do about of habit now as my mother shifted because she saw me thinking about. But the truth was: I only wanted to be as normal as possible. I wanted to hear again, nothing else would matter to me. The one thing I lost was what I wanted back, so I took in one big breath and looked at him dead in the eye.

"What is it?" I asked in my normal voice, finally not afford to hear my own voice. He folds his hands in front of him now.

"It's called a cochlear implant."

* * *

**One Week Later**

"Molly, look who I found!" I peered up from my lunch at the table where I was sitting, pausing with almost half of a sandwich in my mouth. Lunchtime at school was a nice enough time I didn't have to worry about what people thought of me and how they would still talk about me from time to time. I was slowly getting better in how I was dealing with my own hearing, having hard moments more than easier tone, but it wasn't all too bad.

I had Richie.

Since that day when we were 7, Richie and I would sit together. At least, he would go out to find me and sit with me to talk about anything that would be in his head that needed to get out. He was something else when it came to being a boy: for one he had no filter. He would say things that no boy his age should say, and yet it was somewhat funny and endearing to hear from it since he said it so naturally. Someone could tell he watched far too many tv shows from how he would do voices as if they were second nature. He made me laugh so loud once when he tried to do Elmer Thud, I forgot about my voice for a solid minute. That, in return, made him laugh too.

I knew he was my friend.

I didn't tell him too much about what happened to me, and yet he didn't push it. I told him once I was learning sign language, and since he thought it was something nifty to do with your fingers, he wanted to learn too. it was touching to know that he wanted to learn from me as I was learning myself, so I would teach him at least one sign a week. He was a fast learner, which was not surprising since he was the smartest kid in our class. The only thing that held him back was his mouth.

On the contrary, he was that one who would talk to me about his family until he was blue in his face. His father loved his voices he would do, sometimes he would do voices for his dad when he would come home from a long day at work just to make him smile. HIs mother even sounded lovely, and a part of me wanted to meet her.

"It's Eddie Spaghetti!" He said in glee as a smaller boy walked up with him in tow and a brown bag in his hand. I looked at him, seeing the younger boy almost a foot shorter than Richie in comparison, born hair smoothed to the side on top of his head and not a hair out of place. He was wearing a crisp polo shirt and short, knee high socks and yellow shoes. It was a companion to Richie with his bright loud shirts and somewhat bags pants with Chuck Taylors.

"Don't call me that!" He said in a shriek to Richie, smacking him on the arm, Richie mockingly acting hurt by holding his arm.

"Wow! Didn't think you had enough muscles to hit me, Eds!" Richie said in a chuckle as Eddie rolled his eyes.

"Don't call me that either! You know I hate that!" Eddie scolded.

"How was I supposed to know? I literally met you a few weeks ago when you were getting your ass handed to you by Bowers in the GYM," Richie explained, looking at me with a shrug of his shoulders, "Anywho, this is Molly Harper. She's a good friend of mine."

"Oh," Eddie said in a gasp. I then knew he heard about me from someone, "Hi there." he held out his crisp, clean hand. I merely shook it, saying nothing but smiling at him as he was waiting for some kind of answer from me. Since I said nothing, he looked a bit taken back now as Richie cleared his throat.

"She's…not comfortable talking a lot just yet," He explained, making it plain and simple. He knew some of what I was feeling and experiencing, having me give him a small smile.

"Oh, well it's okay," Eddie said to me in a rushed tone, seeing that I was feeling uneasy by talking to him.

"Thanks," I replied in my voice, cringing a bit now as I said it. He gave me a small nod before he sat down across from me and Richie doing the same. Richie took out his out as I watched Eddie neatly place his food on his napkin and arranged his food nicely.

"My mom actually told me about you and your mom once," Eddie explained as he got his neatly down sandwich out in the open, both Richie and I pausing as he went one, "She said that your mom was a nurse, right?"

"Mmhm," I replied, drinking my juice.

"My mom can be a bit…..crazy sometimes," Eddie explained as he took a gentle bite from his food, "She explained to me what happened with your dad—"

"Don't, Eddie," Richie warned him under his breath, but I placed a hand on Richie's arm. Richie knew enough, but he knew that it was touchy for me and not one of my favorite things to think about. Eddie stopped, seeing Richie look at me in worry as I shook my head at him.

" _It's fine_." I signed to him, seeing him think about it before he nodded his head. Eddie looked at us wide eyes, seeing the small interaction now as I cleared my throat and looked at Eddie.

"Go on," I said to him in my normal voice. Eddie gulped, thinking that I was going to smack him now as I waited for him to answer. Richie waited too, his big eyes behind his glass and his hand on his coca cola. Eddie took in a steady breath.

"She talked about how he was sick in the head," He explained hesitantly now, seeing two pairs of eyes on him and listening to every word, "And that anyone who is sick in the head should….ask for Jesus."

I sat there, thinking about that for a moment now as Richie looked at me. Was he thinking that I was going to yell at Eddie? The boy was merely innocent enough, and what he said was pale in comparison to what others would say behind my back. I nodded my head slowly and shrugged my shoulders.

"My dad was crazy," I explained to him, seeing him almost lean in with intrigued to what I was going to say next, "He liked listening to the Bee-gees."

There was a long pregnant pause, then Richie howling in laughter from the joke that I landed. Eddie then giggled from his spot, almost spilling his milk and having me laugh too hard. The three of us laughed and laughed for almost a few minutes from the comment that I made. I could have yelled about it, I could have had nothing and made it worse. But I joked about my own father, and boy did it make some of the pain go away and feel better within my own gut.

* * *

**Current Day**

"I can't come in tomorrow, and not for a while."

"Something up, Commander?"

"Yeah…I have to head back to Main for a while to fix something."

"Ahh, nostalgia with the family. I gotcha," I cringed from hearing that from Gibbs as I was Looking up flights going out of San Francisco into Boston.I knew I would have to catch the train from Boston into Maine and then a taxi into Derry since there was no other way getting into town.Either that or renting a car, but either way I was going back to my childhood town with only a small bag of clothes and the last of my courage and nerves that I had when I was a kid. 

 

I slept that night, well I barely slept because of what I knew what I had to do.I was staring at the small lights of the city below thanks to the curtains that were almost closed completely.My thoughts were running over and over from the previous phone call, the faces that were slowly coming back into my brain but they were still not there yet, and I was feeling a tug within my own stomach to go back to Derry.Something was calling me to go back, maybe just the thought of being back there and amongst the familiar streets and quarry.

 

“Yeah, you could say that,” I replied on the speaker of my cell phone.I took a long drink from my coffee as I was finalizing the flight into Boston while the sun was peaking through the curtains into my apartment.It was late in the morning, having me rub the sleep out of my eyes and finally getting my own head wrapped around my trip to the other side of the country.

 

“What’s wrong, Commander?Not looking forward to going back to the mean streets of Derry?” Gibbs asked me in a humorous tone, chuckling to himself and how he cracked himself up with his own joke.I said nothing for a moment, since what I really wanted to say to him would sound crazy on my end.

 

“I don’t think people really look forward to going back to their childhood home these days,” I admitted.

 

“You’re probably right,” He replied smoothly now as I took another drink from my coffee cup, “Either way, I’ll make sure the department goes smoothly and no hiccups come through,”

 

“That’s why you’re my second in command there at the station,” I commented as I walked with the phone over to the bathroom to get my toiletries.

 

“That and you couldn’t accord anyone else to handle your shit,” I snorted as I grabbed my tooth brush and took paste, “should I just tell the Chief where you’re going?”

 

“I don’t care really, I kind of just want to get this trip overwith,” I replied to him now as he snorted on his own end of the line.

 

“Sounds like you’re going there for more than just nostalgia, why go out there if you don’t wanna go, Commander?” I paused when he asked me, having me stare at myself in in the mirror and think of how I could answer him. Anyone else would think that I was crazy, beyond crazy.Plus, though I did made a promise to Mike and the others of coming back to Derry, there could still be a part of me wanting to stay and not face IT.Should I even bother? 

 

“It’s hard to explain,” I replied simply, seeing the simple scar on my palm now.

 

“Even though you’re on the phone with me, I could hear the small way you’re talking and I’m sensing bullshit,” Gibbs explained to me, having me freeze up thinking that he was thinking that I was crazy and almost off my rocker, “But working with you all of these years has taught me not to question or even argue with you,”

 

I had to smile from what he said, making me glad that he wasn’t going to push the subject about it.I got the rest of my things packed in the bathroom as I rubbed my hair with my fingers.

 

“Let me know when you get back to the bay, Commander.Safe flight, alright?” he asked me.

 

“You got it, Gibbs.Stay safe on the streets,” I replied, ending the phone call finally and placing the phone in my back pocket sand clutching the porcelain of the sink.There was still a small part of me wanting to stay where I was, in the job I knew I could handle and fought hard for, and not having to face the demon there, whatever It was.But the rational, childhood voice in my head was telling me to go.

 

I had to go, for the sake of the others.

 

Were they thinking the same way too?Were they scared or wanting to not come back?I was hoping that they were wanting to come back as well, it made me miss them all the more.What was going to happen once we were all together?What was I going to say to them?It was giving me butterflies just for seeing the other seven being in my lives that moved me far too much and made me brave.Things were blurry here and there, almost like being washed in the sink with soap and the memories and colors were blending together without clarity.I wanted it to be clear again, and being here in California was not going to make it clear no matter how hard I tried to remember.

 

Going back to Maine, going back to the Loser’s Club, would clear it all up for me.


	4. You're a Cyborg?

**Age 10**

I heard a tap on the window, it was repetitive now as I was laying out on my bed and hiding my ear against my pillow. I was very much afraid to expose myself there since I knew who it was going to be at the window. But he tapped one more time before I held up my hand and motioned him to come in.

That summer was cool enough to have the windows open but hot enough to hide within the shades of the trees during the day. Richie, Eddie and I were hanging out more and more as the days were getting longer. Within a few weeks after meeting Eddie, I met two more boys that came were merging into our circle: Bill and Stan. Both of whom were already taking a liking to Richie since they were putting up with his antics and voices. Both of them were quiet compared to Richie, and yet they knew how to carry themselves completely and not care about the others around them.

Stan was a Jewish boy, sporting curly blond hair, who seemed far too serious for a 10-year-old, he seemed more like a young adult. He was dressed so clean that I fear that a spill on his shirt would make him go crazy, but I never got to see that in him just yet.

Bill, on the other hand, was a little more laid back. He was, in fact, a 10-year-old boy, wanting to ride his bike that he called Silver and jump into the quarry waters. Bill was very kind to me when Richie introduced us one day before school. When Richie mentioned a bit that it was hard for me to talk to people, Bill whispered in my ear away from the others, "It's o-o-kay. I'm the s-s-same w-way too."

Now there were five of us.

"Molly?" Eddie's voice was heard, having me seem a bit concerned now since I thought it would only be Richie climbing through my window. My room was in the corner of the second story, a small vine ladder was against the wall that would lead to my room. I looked ahead of me, seeing the mirror above my drawer showing me that all four of the boys were crawling into my room without making too much noise. All of them were wearing warm jackets and long pants, looking a bit sweaty from Well, up until Eddie almost slipped on the floor and he yelped quietly when his shoe hit my bookshelf.

"Ouch!" He grimaced.

"Shut it, Spaghetti man!" Richie hissed as he went to the corner of my bed where my feet were. I saw Stan roll his eyes as he was carefully landed on the floor with ease.

"You shut it, you're the one lumbering in here," Eddie warned him back.

"B-both of you, s-s-hut it before we're c-c-caught." Bill scolded the both of them, all four of them were silent now as Stan cleared his throat. Of course, he would be the one to talk first amongst the four of them.

"You weren't at the quarry today, or the last two days. Richie got concerned," Stan explained, making me see Richie flick him in the side to shit him up, "What? It's true!"

"Guys, seriously. We're gonna be kicked out," Eddie said to the both of them as he walked over to sit on the other side of Richie on my bed, "We were wondering where you were is all, Molly." I didn't move a bit, thinking of what I was going to tell them. Would they even care what happened? None of them knew, not even Richie. I finally drew out a long sigh before I raised one hand to sign one word.

 _Surgery_.

"Surgery?" Richie asked, almost sounding a bit concerned, "On what?" He incited a bit closer now, having me cringe and grasp the pillow that was blocking my ear. I was faired to show them a new part of my now body, not to mention still getting used to hearing some new things now because of the surgery. I was being self-conscious again, mentally telling myself that they were my friends. All of them were, even Richie whom I knew the longest and have long far more closely than the other boys there in the room. I slowly got up and moved my hair over my ear, maneuvering my way to face the fours of them.

All four of their faces were looking a bit worried, thinking that I was going to have something on my face or some kind of war wound. Bill and Stan were still standing against the window, Eddie and Richie on my bed and Richie being close enough to touch my hand if he could. I looked over at him nervously. seeing him give me a small smile to show that I could be okay showing him. Finally, after blinking a few times, I moved my fingers over to my hair and moved it behind my ear.

Showing my cochlear implant.

No one said a word as they were watching my ear, seeing the new device against my head and my ear now as I tried not to instantly run into the closet and hide my face. They had to shave some of my head in order to go under the knife, so my mother tried to attempt to give me some kind of haircut that could cover my bald spot and my cochlear implant. It was still raw and a bit sore, having me squint a bit from just moving my hair to show them. But all of their eyes were analyzing what it was that was making me feel uneasy with myself.

"It's called a cochlear implant," I explained, hearing my voice a bit better now because of it and still feeling off and shifting on the bed, "It's a surgery that they do that help you hear a bit better with this device."

"It's in your head?" Stan asked, tilting his head to get a better view of my implant. With hesitance, my hair was pushed back more and they saw the small pod attached to my head in the shaved area. BIll's eyes went big, Eddie wasn't trying to look too obvious when it came to seeing my new implant. But it was Richie that I was worried about, seeing him merely look just at me, and not my implant. Why was he watching me? I would think he would be saying something about the implant since he was more about action than thought, but he was looking right into my eyes. It made me almost feel a bit saner.

"Was it….scary?" Eddie asked hesitantly.

"Not really," I replied, moving my hair back and clearing my throat, "It was done within a few hours. The other end is in my ear, see?" I showed them my ear, seeing the device going side now as Richie grinned.

"That's c-c-cool." Bill said in amazement as I grinned slightly.

"So, you can hear things now?" Richie finally asked, "Everything?"

"Not all of it, but it does help in my ear to have things sound clearer." I replied to him, "The doctor told me I was the first one in our county to get one, so he made a big deal."

"You look like a robot," Eddie said in a small voice, Stan almost giving him a shocked look from what he said. I didn't see it as a bad thing, I thought I would be called worse since I got the surgery. But Richie said the new thing that made me grin at him almost from ear to ear. it wasn't because of what he said, it was how he said it. Almost in amazement and enlightening.

"You're a cyborg."

"Beep Beep, Richie! I think that's pushing it—" Stan tried to stop Richie from saying anything else that could get him in trouble.

"I feel like one," I anded, all four of them were looking at me with wide eyes. For some reason, seeing the approval of the four of them and how well they were taking my new way of life, I was becoming bold in the way that I was living. There was no need to be shy around them, I didn't need to be. That fear of not being accepted was slowly getting smaller and smaller.

"Hell yea you do," Richie agreed with a big grin on his face, "You could be a big superhero with that!"

"Of course you would want her to be a superhero," Eddie mumbled, the others snickering with him too.

"D-d-does this m-m-mean you can come p-p-p-play with us tomorrow?" Bill asked me, having some hope in his voice.

"I have to rest for a few more days and then I can go back to school," I replied back to him.

"You get a few days off of school?" Richie asked almost in a groan now. I giggled since he was making it sound like a drag that I was the one who was going to miss school a bit.

"Don't be so happy for her," Stan snorted back at him. I giggled, almost squinting a bit from the tenderness in my head. The boy saw me squint and Eddie bit his lip in worry.

"It hurts?" Eddie asked me. I nodded, closing my eyes briefly now as Richie carefully placed his hand on my leg in some kind of reassurance and comfort. I felt the warmth there from his fingers, and it was almost soothing.

"It's still tender. I should be resting," I explained to Eddie.

"Then we'll let you rest," Stan reassured me, giving me one last smile before he was about to head over to the window. He gave me one more careful look now, "I like it."

"Thanks, Stan," I replied to him as Bill was about to follow him out of the window.

"T-t-that's a big d-d-deal when he g-g-g-ives compliments," Bill reminded me as he stuck his leg out of the window, "I t-t-think it's a-a-awesome."

"You make me sound like a jerk, Bill," Stan muttered to him outside my window. With the both of them gone, I was left with Eddie as he gave me a small nervous smile now.

"I think you look really cool," He said to me with his timid tone. I just grinned at him now as he gave me one last nervous wave before he scrambled over to the window. I looked over ago Richie, a smile still plastered on his face for what he heard from me and what he saw. I was letting out a shaky breath, not thinking of the next thing to say to him as he cleared his throat.

"You know, I think you were just as cool as you were without it," He reminded me, pointing to my implant. I just smiled at him.

"You never told me that before," I voiced.

"Eh, I don't usually talk like this all the time," He replied, having me nod slowly in agreement.

"Ain't that the truth," I joked. the both of us smiling as I then pointing to my pillow, "I should…..uh…rest."

"Richie!" Eddie hissed outside the window, clearly sounding agitated. Richie released his hand from my leg, having em somewhat already miss the loss of his hand as he gracefully moved over to my window. He was halfway out before he poked her head over in my direction again, going me one of his signature grins.

"Goodnight, Cyborg."

 

* * *

 

**Age 12**

 

Because of what happened to me when I was younger, developed a bad phobia for large bodies of water.

 

I always feared that I would drown if I was close enough to the water, and since my mother knew it was not going to help to push me to learn how to swim, I never got the chance to do so when I was younger.I was too afraid to think that I would slip in and not be able to breathe, and of course looking back on it years later I knew it was beyond unhealthy.

 

But that did change for the better, once Richie got wind that I couldn't swim.

 

"You're kidding," Richie said in a snort as we were walking together to his house after school.I would go to his house for a few hours to kill time before my mother would come home.She met his parents and they were becoming good acquaintancesThey reassured my mom that I was okay to stay at their house until my mother would come and pick me up after her shift.Plus, I liked his parents very much.They were beyond kind and sweet to me.

 

"Nope," I replied, seeing him give me big eyes in pure shock.

 

"All this time you never mentioned that you couldn't swim," Richie said to me, almost to start an argument.

 

"Well, you never asked." I retorted about to him.

 

"I've always wondered why you didn't want to swim with us," Richie said in more of a daze, thinking to himself for a few minutes as we were still walking before he finally spoke up, "Did you…want to?"

 

"I never thought about learning," I admitted to him, holding the straps of my backpack with my fingers as I contemplated on what to tell him next.We walked a few more steps before I spoke again, "When I was in that accident….that made me afraid of water…I think."Richie bit his lower lip and I didn't say anything else.It was hard for me to think of a time when I wasn't afraid of the water before my accident when I was four. 

 

"You know," Richie piped up as we were turning the corner to go on his street, "If you want, I can teach you how to swim."

 

"Really?"

 

"Sure, I mean it's up to you," Richie said to me in a grin.I smiled at him briefly before I finally asked him what I've been wanting to for the past few months now.While he was with the boys, myself included, I noticed how he would ask around them in comparison to how he would act around me.It made me wonder.

 

"Why are you always nice to me, and not to the guys?" I questioned him.He looked confused by the question, almost offended that I would ask him such a thing.But on the other hand, it was plaguing my mind since I would watch things way more now.The way he was rough around the edges with Stan, Bill, and Eddie.But with me, he was very nice and considerate, even playful from time to time.I would get some of his crude remarks, but I knew he would mean well.

 

He was treating me differently.

 

"I don't know," He replied with a shrug as we were approaching his house, "You were one of my first real friends I made, so…I guess that's why."

 

"It wouldn't have to do with anything involving what happened to me, would it?" I asked him, tentatively.He gave me a serious look, and I could tell behind his glasses that he was not going to joke with me.

 

"Hell no," He replied without a second thought, "If you think that's why we're friends, you're wrong!I like you because you're actually a decent person…not to mention nice to someone like me who doesn't know when to shut up."He grumbled the last part, having me feel a bit sad for him now as I touched his arm.

 

"That's mean to say about yourself," I reminded him, almost like I was scolding him, "You're a great guy, Richie.Honestly, you are."I looked ahead of me, walking over to his front door with him behind me.If only I looked back and saw the hint of blush on his cheeks as I reminded him of his self-worth.

 

He was worth it


	5. Is He Gonna Make It?

 

  **"** Oh, shit,"

 

I looked up from my book, seeing what Stan was looking at.Across the hall at our school, there was our friend Eddie getting slammed into the locker by none other than Henry Bowers.It was one of those days that Henry was on the warpath and we were the easy targets.At least the boys were, and for some odd reason, they were the only objects and targets that Henry wanted to inflict pain on.Something within him was dark, I could feel it and so did the rest of our grade.They would run from him when he would come down the hall.

 

But Eddie was not fast enough that day.

 

I was alone there with Stan, whereas Richie was meeting with Bill then to come to get us.Poor Eddie was in the crossfire of this particular ridicule.He was getting more and more heat from his mother since she was finding out that the boys would have to shower together at PE.She didn't want any of it, and of course, word got around to Henry's ear. 

 

I clutched my book within my fingers, seeing Eddie squint in pain as Henry hovered over him and grabbed his shirt.Something inside of me was screaming to save Eddie, to have the pain stop from him.But something else was festering in me: Anger.For once in this whole ordeal with Henry, seeing him tower over a helpless person like Eddie reminded me of someone else who was thirsty for dominance and power.It made me sick and no longer wish to hide away when I knew I could help him. 

 

Henry reminded me of my father.

 

A sense of bravery was kicking in within my stomach and over my fingers, I sense of protecting was inflicting my brain.The boys I was hanging with were giving me the confidence to know that I was a decent person, that what happened to me when I was younger was not the end result of me.They saw me as a whole being, and in return, I was getting closer and closer to each of them.I would even consider them my family, all four of them since it felt like they were considering me the same.If there was one thing I learned from my mother, it's that we protect our own, whether they are blood or not.

 

I had to protect Eddie.

 

The book in my hand dropped, hitting the floor hard.Stan was calling out to me to stop, but my own feet were moving before I could stop them.My overall shorts were moving like the wind now as I was barreling down the hall and through some of the watchers in the hall.When I was close enough, seeing Henry give one more aggressive shove to Eddie, I saw red.

 

That was enough.

 

"What's the matter, Kaspbrak?Can't even take a piss without your mommy watching you?" Henry asked with a sneer, chuckling as I finally got close enough.I shoved with all my strength in both of my hands, colliding him against the locker so hard that the sound was deafening in the room.He hit the locker with his body, falling to the floor from the side attack, slamming his head against the floor and the students around me gasp.Henry was shellshocked and silent, not moving for a moment or so as he was trying to figure out what just happened to him.

 

Eddie scrambled away from the lockers, behind me now and quivering a bit in fear.I was breathing hard, my hands at my sides were making fists and I was glaring at Henry now.I was seeing my father there on the floor, shocked that I was fighting back against him.How dare I do that to him?Who in their right mind would do that to the school bully without a second thought or remorse?

 

Henry slowly looked up at me now, a small cut was seen there on his forehead now as he was looking at me with red fury in his eyes.I knew that I was pretty much signing my own death wish now that I did that to him, but I wasn't going to let Eddie have another moment of torment from that monster.

 

"Leave him alone," I growled at him, seeing him finally slowly get up now and the others around us were backing up.Eddie taking a step back now, thinking that Henry was going to take a swing at me.but I stayed still, watching him like a hawk and not giving him the slightest advantage.Henry was still quiet now as I said one more thing to him,

 

"I'm not afraid of you, you coward."

 

The students moved out of the way just in time for one of the teachers to be walking over, seeing a crowd form from his room. 

 

"Is there a problem, Bowers?" He asked Henry, who was still drilling his eyes into my own now.I watched him carefully to see what he was going to say as the teacher talked some more, "I hope you're not going to make the dumb decision in hitting Miss Harper here.Are you?"

 

Henry said nothing now as the teacher cleared his throat and the students were starting to clear now.The teacher finally looked at me and nodded, "You can go, Molly."

 

I turned on my heel, seeing Eddie walk next to me almost protectively as I released the grip I had on my own fingers now.I was breathing out slowly now, making my way back to Stan and not looking back.I stood up to the shock bully, for once somebody did and was able to place him back in his place the world.I knew I must have looked stupid or suicidal, but in my mind, I needed the monster to back away from my friend.

 

 

For a few minutes, I felt victorious.

 

* * *

 

**One Week Later**

 

"Be good, and make sure you lock up the doors as soon as I drive off, okay?"

 

"It'll be fine, mom.I've stayed here alone before for a few hours."

 

"I know I know, but I still worry about you,"I finally framed my mother's face within my own hands, seeing him peer down at me with almost huge eyes from how I was handling this.She had to go into a quick shift at the hospital, which was literally five minutes away from our house.She would have to work extra shifts here and there, mostly during the day and while I was at school.I would hitch a ride with Richie's parents if that was the case, both of whom were beyond nice enough to come by since it was on their way to drop off Richie. I enjoyed those car rides with his family, hearing their stories and how they would attempt to embarrass Richie. 

 

This was one of the rare nights my mom would have to go to work and be out until late into the night.Thankfully we had one good neighbor who lived across the street who would keep an eye out for me in case something were to happen. Although my mom would come home around midnight after working since 6:30, my mom insisted to have someone else watch me in case I needed help. 

 

Since I made friends with the other boys, I was slowly coming out of my shell.There were plenty of hangouts at their homes, excluding Eddie's house since his mother was unconvinced we were a good enough crowd for her son.She merely liked me enough since I wasn't crude like Richie or stammering like Bill.I think too it was because my mother was a nurse, so apparently, that made me a nurse in training and that reassured her that I would save her son from death. 

 

Needless to say, I didn't like her and how she spoke about Eddie.

 

"I am going to be okay," I reminded her calmly, almost in a too serious tone and she grinned at me.Moving her head with my hands still on her face, she kissed my forehead and stood back up.I placed my hands down as she was gathering her work bag from the kitchen table.I could hear the TV still on faintly in the living room as the sun was setting in the autumn night. 

 

"Remember who you can call if something happens," She reminded me as she grabbed her keys and then maneuvered her hair in a ponytail.

 

"Miss Goldstein," I answered, seeing her give me one last smile before I walked with her over to the front door.

 

"I should be home no later than midnight.You know the drill when it comes to locking up," She explained, "Maybe after this last night shift, you and I can go on a trip to see the city in Boston.Like we've been planning,"Bless my mom for trying to get some trips with me, and yet the money was a bit too tight and she would have to work extra hours in order to get that vacation we both wanted.I could tell she was working hard, sometimes falling asleep in her bed as soon as we were done eating dinner and we cleaned up.I helped her as much as I could around the house, and I didn't mind it.

 

"That sounds great, mom," I replied to her, giving her one last kiss before she opened the door.

 

"Be good," She instructed me with a wink.I waved as she got in the car and drove down the street.I could only watch her was a small smile on my face, then going in to close the door behind me and lock it tight. I had nothing else to do that night except to finish my homework.I was already almost done with my homework, and I was about to head up the stairs and get my books when there was a knock at the back door.I froze, thinking that I misheard something.Without even realizing it I tapped my implant to see if it was working.it was.

 

There were five knocks.Two fast and three slow.I rolled my eyes.

 

"Damn, Richie," I groaned, walking down the steps and going through the hallway to the back door in the kitchen, "I'm busy tonight, Richie.I can't come out."

 

"It's important!" Richie said in amuffled tone on the other side of the door.I unlocked the door.

 

"How important?" I asked, opening the door and freezing in my spot.There was Richie, looking concerned and worried he had a wounded Eddie around his waist.Eddie had a massive cut over his eye and a bloody lip that was forming, Stan and Bill behind him looking ruffed up themselves.It looked like all three of them went through hell and back, Eddie the most, and yet Richie was giving me his version of the puppy dog eyes.

 

"We need to fix him up," Richie explained in a huff. I looked from Richie to Eddie, seeing that he was almost on the verge of tears now as there was blood evident on his shirt and dipping a bit more.

 

"Do I need to ask?" I asked carefully.

 

"Henry Bowers," Stan replied instantly.I inwardly groaned.Since my encounter with Henry was on the infamous warpath with the group.But something about him wanting to encounter me made him stop at the last minute as if he was slightly afraid to be anywhere near me.Maybe he was afraid, someone finally standing up to him and getting him a piece of their mind and not being afraid of him.I wasn't afraid of him, more fed up than anything because bullies only knew how to be violent in order to win. 

 

I didn't want to try with him.

 

"Please!" Eddie said desperately, "My mother is going to kill me if she sees me like this!"

 

"R-r-richie said y-y-y-ou have medical s-s-s-supplies," Bill explained, now having me drill my eyes to Richie now since he was caught red-handed.Richie shrugged his shoulders.

 

"I mentioned at one time you had stuff to stuff my nose from when Henry punched me two months ago, sue me!Come on, Molly!" He pleaded and all four boys were waiting for me to give them some kind of answer now as I was pondering what to do.For one, they were my friends.I was willing to help them out.But on the other hand, my mother was gone, and if my neighbor sees a group of boys in the house without my mother in it, I would be in trouble.

 

"Come in quickly and take him to the bathroom by the stairs," I instructed Richie, seeing him sigh in relief as he helped maneuver Eddie into the house.Bill was next, with Stan closing the door behind them.I locked the door, re-thinking what I just did and decided to just roll with it.I walked over to the bathroom and saw Richie placing Eddie on the toilet seat.I moved into the bathroom and went to the medicine cabinet, opening it and peering inside.My mother had a surplus amount of medical supplies from the hospital, and of course, she would sort it neatly in our one medicine cabinet in the house.Eddie saw the rows of supplies, gauzes, and band-aids to rubbing alcohol and tweezers. 

 

"Wow," he said to me as I was grabbing what I needed to help him.

 

"Don't blow a load over it, Spaghetti man," Richie said in a snort as he sat on the edge of the bathtub. 

 

"Beep Beep," I scolded him as I placed Eddie's face in front of my own with my two fingers, something my mother would do.I examined his face seeing the cut on his face and the fat lip.I was already trying to find a way to get that swelling down and then how to work out that cut.

 

"Bill, in my freezer on the kitchen there's a blue box with small ice inside.Get some ice in a towel and bring it back," I instructed Bill, seeing him scurry off from watching at the opening of the bathroom. 

 

"Is he gonna make it?" Richie asked in a mocked worried tone.

 

"You're about to lose your own mouth if you don't shut the hell up!" Eddie hissed at him in pain from moving his fat lip.I grabbed the rubbing alcohol and then the gauze, getting some of the liquid on there and then dabbing his lip slightly.He squinted for a few seconds while I was still getting some of the blood off his lips.

 

"It doesn't look too bad," I said to Eddie as I saw the cut a bit more, "It'll be there for a while, but I don't think it'll be infected."

 

"You know if something's infected?" Stan asked in curiosity.

 

"Her mom's a nurse, Stan the Man!Of course, she knows!She's seen crazy shit," Richie commented in a snort.

 

"I don't think she's seen you on a bad night," Stan muttered back to him as Bill came back with the towel filled with ice.I took it gently and placed it on his lip, seeing it cradle it gently as I moved to the cut.

 

"Now this, I don't know how you're gonna explain this to your mom, but this'll be on your head for a while," I explained as I got some new glaze ready for cleaning.

 

"Shit," Eddie mumble behind the towel of ice.I could see he was already getting green in the face. 

 

"W-w-what can we t-t-tell his m-mom?" Bill asked the group, "S-s-she already hates u-u-us."

 

"He tripped and fell?" Richie threw out the suggestion, "Eddie's not that graceful any who.Remember that one time he literally tripped over himself from walking down the street in front of the ice cream shop?"

 

"There was gum on my fucking shoe!" Eddie howled in a muffled roar with the towel in front of him.

 

"Language, Edward!We're in the presence of a lady!" Richie retorted.I got one of my better bandages over this cut once I got most of the blood and wound clean.Once he was mostly down, I got up from my spot and looked at Stan, nothing that he too had a small cut on his face.I grabbed the clean gauze that was left, dabbing it with some water from the sink before I handed it to him.

 

"Here," I said to him, seeing him take it tentatively. "For your jaw."

 

"Thanks," He mumbled, placing it there.

 

"Why did he get you?" I asked him, wondering how Stan became a recent victim to Henry.Stan thought about it for a moment before he spoke.

 

"Because I'm a Jew," He replied smoothly.I didn't know what to say then since it wasn't a big deal in my own eyes.They were still my friends, and that Henry would do that to him because of what he believed in was enough to make me be sick. 

 

"He's a fucked up guy," Richie mumbled from the edge of the bathtub as I finally tore my eyes from Stan to take a good look at him.

 

"You didn't get hit, did you?" I asked him, not wanting to sound desperate but more worried.He didn't say anything as Eddie moved the towel from his mouth.

 

"Henry kicked him hard in the ribs," Eddie mumbled, Richie then shooting him a look clearly to shut up.Eddie placed the towel back on his lip now, clearly seeing that he said too much as I looked to Richie's lower stomach.I walked over slowly, seeing him watch me like a hawk as I pointed to his shirt.

 

"I can look at it, if you want," I didn't want to push it with Richie since I knew he was tougher than others would give him credit for.But I was still concerned since Richie was now being quiet about it, not cracking a joke about being kicked or smoothing it over.

 

"Come on, Richie, just let her look," Stan urged him from the door, Bill watching from next to him now as Richie finally gave in and slowly grabbed his shirt to raise it up.AS soon as he did and we saw his pale body, I cringed a bit as Eddie looked away, not wanting to look for too long.

 

"Damn Richie," Bill said, not stuttering once.There was a large purple bruise along his ribs and it was slowly spreading.it was low enough that it could be seen if his shirt was risen up, but not as bad since he was still breathing fine.I watched it for a few seconds, not knowing what to do about it since this was clearly not my department.I was more comfortable with helping with small cuts and scrapes, but bruises were my mother's territory.

 

"I don't know Richie," I said in a low manner, watching him lower his shirt now, "Maybe I can ask my mom if she could—"

 

"Don't worry about it," Richie reassured me before I could finish, making me feel my own heart slowly sinking to the floor since he was waving it off casually, "It's not the first time Henry got a good one in me."

 

"It could be fracture though!" Eddie explained in fear, "Richie, it doesn't look good."

 

"Of course it doesn't look good, Eds.If it looked good then I would be smiling," Richie said in a joke.I gave both Bill and Stan a look, not knowing what to say to him since he was not clearly wanting to get some kind of help. "Oh come on guys.I can handle a bruise for a while.Sure it hurts, but not as bad as I was hurting after I banged Eddie's mother."

 

"Shut up!" Eddie mumbled as he was rearranging the towel on his face, "You're a dick."

 

"Oh, you wish you had one as big as mine," Richie retorted back.

 

"And he's back," Stand commented, Richie giving me a small grin.

 

 


	6. You Gonna Be Okay?

**Age 13**

**Fall 1988**

"I don't know, mom."

 

"Oh come now!You're a young lady, you should be dressing up like one!"

 

"But…a dress?"

 

"It's simple and cute."

 

I looked at one of the few dresses my mom got me when she went out shopping.It was going into the new year and I recently just turned 13, which in the world of parents that meant that I was going to go through the trials and tribulations of being a teenager.I already had the birds and the bees talk with my mom, which sounded more like a nurse talking to a patient than anything, but my mom gave me all the details and such. 

 

So now I was standing in front of a new cotton dress that looked like it would come to my lower thighs, almost to my knees now and it was a pretty shade of green.I could see my mom giving me eager eyes to see if I was going to like it.

 

"It'll bring out the color of your hair," She reassured me as she laid it out on my bed, "And those bike shorts that you have, you can wear that underneath since it's long enough."

 

I didn't say anything at first, thinking that it would be pushing it since I was used to wearing shorts and flowy shirts.I had no real intention of wearing dresses, not really unless we were going somewhere very fancy and special.But on the other hand, it didn't look itchy or too uncomfortable. 

 

"At last give it a try," She asked almost in earnest now.I finally looked from the dress to her, seeing the silent pleading in her eyes to have me at least for once dress like a girl.I felt bad at this point since the last thing I wanted to do was to break her heart and be a tomboy for the rest of my life.Breathing in a heavy sigh, I nodded my head and she grinned from ear to ear.

 

* * *

 

I walked through the hallway now, already feeling self-conscious as other students were watching me with big eyes.I felt my hair that was behind my shoulders getting sweatier from the number of eyes on my back as I was clutching my books and backpack in front of me in a death grip, trying to cover most of the dress.Maybe this was a bad idea, a really bad idea now as I was seeing more and more people give me shocked looks but keep talking to their friends.Even some of them pointed, it was as if someone else took over the old me and the new me was foreign.Have they never seen a dress before?Was I a total boy before this and now suddenly I was a woman?

 

What the hell?

 

"So this guy on the show delivered the best line of the whole skit!" I heard Richie ahead of me, and of course, there he was leaning against the locker with his back to me, talking to the rest of the group now with a wave of his arms and enthusiasm in his voice.Eddie seemed somewhat interested, Stan almost a bit annoyed and Bill humorously going along with the talk, and now I was suddenly wanting to disappear because they were going to see me within a few seconds.What were they going to say about what I was wearing?I would think they would be okay about it, and yet again they would be beyond shocked.They've never seen something on me that was shorter than my knees, and now I was going to be both scandalous and almost slutty.

 

What slutty even the appropriate term this?

 

"Hey, M-M-Molly!" Bill said as he finally saw me.The others looked too, seeing me slowly walk up to them now as I stood in front of them, "H-H-H-ow was B-B-B-Boston?"

 

"Fine," I replied in one word, almost mumbling a bit now as I was hitting in my white sneakers, "Got a few new things from Boston with my mom."

 

"Like what?" Eddie asked, clearly intrigued with what I was going to tell him in comparison to hearing the rest of Richie's story about some sketch he saw the night before.There was no real reason to hold out the suspense even longer now as I sighed moved my backpack out of the way and showed them my dress.The four of them didn't say a single word, they were more shocked about it than anything.It felt like the longest pause ever, me wanting them to say something about it since apparently, I was too dumb to just cut and run. 

 

"It was my mom's idea," I muttered to them as I threw the backpack strap over my shoulders now to wear it on my back finally.Stan almost shifted uncomfortably there next to Bill, who didn't know what he was going to say.Eddie, as always, was looking like a deer caught in the headlights.But the last person I didn't expect an awkward reaction was Richie, who gulped and tried to avert his eyes now, looking anywhere else.

 

"It looks nice," Stand finally said, trying to break some kind of tension there amongst us.I gave him a small smile.Bill nodded in agreement.

 

"Yy-yeah, really nice," He replied smoothly, his voice is a bit timid he was still sounded so sure about himself.Even though I knew they were saying this to make me feel better, I felt like they were saying those things too just for the sake of having some kind of conversation and no tension.I was waiting to hear from both Eddie and Richie when someone else walked by and spoke first, laughing as he did.

 

"Nice rack."

 

I froze, my eyes going big as the guy who walked by snickered and his friends laughed at his remark.Bill, Stan, Richie, and Eddie froze solid, shocked at what they heard as I tried so hard not to move.But nothing in my body was moving, I was too reel from what someone said to me and how they said it.That's never happened to me before, and I instantly felt sick and almost violated. 

 

My eyes were watering then, threatening to cry now as I caved inwardly to myself and looked down at my feet.I felt more exposed than anything in front of my own friends, and yet they didn't move for a moment or two.

 

"Fucking prick," Richie growled under his breath now, yet I could still hear him.My own mind was reeling the two words that made me feel less of a goddamn person.I was used to the remarks about my hearing, let alone my implant and how it made me look like a robot.But now this?What was I going to do now?

 

"I hate Patrick," Eddie said in agreement.I felt a few tears hit my face now, all of them were watching me now and no longer focusing on Patrick. I had to get away from there, I needed to hide in order to let any of tears out.it was no longer a fact that I was wearing this dress anymore, but it was now about someone exposing me like that.

 

"Molly?" Stan asked as I wiped away a tear now.Richie took a step towards me, maybe trying to comfort me now as I took a step back now.It didn't feel right for some reason to have him try to comfort me, after all, I was the one who chose to wear this. 

 

"I need to go," I mumbled turning on my heel and speed walking towards the women's bathroom.

 

"Molly!Wait, Molly!" Richie called out to me, but I was still walking so fast and weaving through the crowds now.I was feeling more tears fall from my eyes and hit my new dress now.I was tempted to just run home and go under the covers, or at least throw a bag over my whole body.This felt much worse than before hone I was just trying to be normal with an implant in my ear.

 

I pushed my way into the bathroom, seeing that it was virtually empty and I sighed in defeat.I was finally feeling the tears slowly go down my face as I was seeing myself in the mirror now. 

 

There was in my new dress, already ebbing stained with my tears and I never felt so uncomfortable before.All from two words, and it pained me that it was getting to me so quickly and so fast.I felt my long hair sticking to the sides of my face now from the hot tears and my skin was getting rather pink from the embarrassment.

 

It wasn't the way I wanted to start my teenage years, being catcalled by one of Henry's goons.The thought of me going through this new stage of my life with some new cautions never came until now.I only thought of worst for now on as I heard the bathroom open abruptly.I quickly ran into the stall at the very end, slamming it shut and locking it tight as I was still crying. I sat down on the toilet seat lid as I heard the sound of heavy boot walking into the bathroom.The rhythm was slow enough that someone was either taking their time or listening for someone inside.

 

"Hey, you okayin here?" I heard someone asked softly, a softer tone of a voice that almost sounded a bit edgy.I didn't say anything, but I sniffle a bit more as I drew my feet and legs to my chest.The boots were going on more, walking to the middle of the bathroom.

 

"I saw what happened out there with Patrick," I froze, not realizing that whoever it was that was talking in the bathroom was trying to talk to me.She sounded so sincere about it, which made me feel even more miserable, "He's a dick.Seriously, he doesn't know when to keep his mouth shut and when to think."

 

I was still quiet as I saw the boots from opening in the stall near the floor.They looked worn out with history, as if whoever was wearing them as seeing things and done things too.Someone banged on the door and it made me jump.

 

"Bathroom's closed!Go smoke in another spot!" The girl hollered back with her voice echoing in the bathroom, hearing someone on the other side of the bathroom door grumble before they walked away.The girl in the bathroom sighed, a moment or two of quiet was hanging in the air.

 

"Look, what he said to you was beyond stupid, but you don't have to give him that satisfaction," The girl kept talking to me, standing in front of my stall now as she was still speaking so gently that she was afraid that she would spook me, "Trust me, I've been there before last year.Guys are pigs, well, most guys are.You don't have to hide in here, you shouldn't have to."I slowly started to lower my feet down to the ground now, slowly but surely.Something about the way she spoke to me, whoever she was, made me feel a bit braver and it soothed me.

 

"I think you look very nice in it if that helps?" She suggested me as my feet touched the ground, "And you can actually kick his ass in that dress if you could,"I looked ahead at the door, giving one more last sniff and then moving some of the hair out of my eyes.

 

"Really?" I asked, almost sounding like I was blubbering.I heard a small chuckle from her end on the other side of the door.

 

"Everyone knows you can.Hell, they all saw you push down Henry like he was a rag doll," She explained, having me think back to that morning when I pushed Henry to protect Eddie,I thought about it for a moment or two, really trying to think if I should come out and go on with the day or hide far away, "You can go back out there with your head held high, and give those guys who try that with you a piece of your mind."

 

"I'm not that brave," I admitted, clearly talking to some random girl now in the bathroom.

 

"After what you did to Henry, I think you are,"

 

I slowly got up from my spot on the toilet seat, lifting the lock from the door and pushing it open slowly.I finally got a chance to see who it was that was coaching me out and giving me some kind of faith in myself.She had flaming red hair, flowing down her shoulder in a ponytail with bright green eyes and freckles everywhere.She was wearing a red tank top with blue shorts and boots.She was watching me with a small smile on her lips and her hands on her hips.I knew who she was, she had a reputation amongst both the boys and girls in the store.Some called her tough, and yet others were calling her name that was also cruel and unkind.I never met her personally before, but I always admired her from afar.

 

"You gonna be okay?" She asked me with a sweetness in her tone, almost motherly really. 

 

"I think so," I replied to her, seeing her give me her one big smile that I have seen her use every once in a while, "Thanks, Beverly."

 

"You're welcome, Molly."

 

That's how I became friends with Beverly Marsh.

* * *

 

 

I walked out of the bathroom a few minutes later after Beverly helped clean me up with some tissue paper to wipe off the tear streaks and get my looking nice again.She was beyond nice to me, something I didn't expect from her since I only heard things about her and never spoke to her once. She must have seen a part of me and something like this happening to her in the past, and she felt some kind of pity and empathy for me.Did she know some things about me and my life?What as she heard about me?

 

I walked back into the hallway, seeing nobody there now but the fur people the I saw las before my meltdown.They were right by the lockers across the bathroom, no one else was there since they were all in class.But there was Eddie, Stan, Bill, and Richie.They were watching for the door to open now and once I emerged, they were all giving me reassuring looks now.Beverly stayed behind in the bathroom, wanting me to go first since she felt like I was confident to go on by myself. 

 

I gave them a small stare now, not knowing what to say since I ran off on them and cried because of what I was wearing.But I walked a bit closer, standing in front of them like I did about 20 minutes ago.There was nothing to be heard now, but after a moment or two of pure silence, Richie moved first.

 

He gave me one of the fiercest hugs we've ever had as friends.

 

"I'm sorry," He mumbled against my shoulder as he was hugging me protectively.I slowly wrapped my arms around him, no longer needing to just run from him and the others when they were still seeing me as a friend.Eddie wrapped his arms around me as well, on my side there and not saying anything now.Finally, Bill and Stan did the same now as we were all hugging in the hallway. 

 

I felt a smaller sense of peace there amongst my from friends, I even felt as though they were protective of me and how I was feeling.Of course, they didn't run after me into the bathroom, I could tell they were feeling my sadness and guilt as well.This whole time I thought I was going to have to be protecting them because of my new sense of bravery from pushing Henry, but I realized I need protection too.

 

I saw Beverly sneak down the hallway without the boys seeing her or realizing she was the one who brought me out.But I just grinned as she gave me one last wave before she flew down the hall gracefully and into her classroom. 

* * *

 

**October 1988**

 

I remember one rainy day when I was with my mother the host pail.It was raining extra hard and she was called in because some people were having major car accidents because of the weather.My mother was the best in the administration area and since their usual administration assistant was out for the day, she came in to help with the paperwork.

 

I had nothing else to do for the day, so I was working on my homework at her desk while she as going through paper after paper with the new patients.I could see the rain hitting hard on the ground, almost bouncing off the sidewalk as even the soft rumble of the thunder crackled in the background.

 

"We haven't had this bad of rain in a long time, no wonder people are getting hurt," my mom grumbled as she was finishing another stack of papers.I grinned now as she gave me a side look.

 

"Why aren't you with your friends today?" She asked me in curiosity.

 

"Bill's sick with a cold, Eddie's mom won't let him outside in fear he would catch pneumonia," I explained, seeing him chuckle as she kept working some more, "Richie's hanging out with his dad and Stan's practicing for his Bar Mitzvah coming up."

 

"That mother of his is neurotic," She commented in a snort, talking about Eddie, "I swear, sometimes she brings him just for the sake of getting some kind of attention on her, not him.Poor kid, I think she's making him sick herself."

 

"You should see his medicine cabinet," I replied back to her, seeing her watch me now as I gave her a serious look, "It makes yours look like a garbage dump."

 

"She's one of those, huh?" She asked me, having me giggle now as the phone rang and one of the other receptionist picked it up, "No wonder I couldn't get through to her and nothing was wrong with him.He doesn't even have Asthma, it's more in his head. But when I explain to the mother, it's like I'm a talking monkey. I've been a nurse for about twenty years now," I could tell she was ranting a bit now to herself and not to me.But the receptionist that picked up the hope ball walked over, holding the phone against her hand now and looking concerned.

 

"It's for your daughter," She told my mother, having me look at her now as my mother raised an eyebrow at her, "It's some little boy named Stan."I hopped down from the chair and walked over tot he phone, taking it gently from to place it against my good ear.

 

"Stan?"

 

"Molly, something happened," He said in a lower tone, sounding so serious, "I tried calling your house and you weren't there, but you always go to the hospital with your mom.I wanted to come over to tell you but I'm stuck at the synagog with my dad to practice for my Bar Mitzvah—"

 

"Stan," I cut him off, "You're scaring me, what happened?"

 

There was a pregnant sigh.

 

"It's Bill.His brother's missing."

 

 

That was the start of the hell


	7. How Does it Work?

**November 1988**

 

"I can take these to the hospital and give them to the other nurses to post around the area,"

 

"That would be lovely, Molly.Thank you,"

 

"My mom wanted to let you know too that if there's anything else you need, you can call her,"

 

I was standing in the front room of the Denbrough house, facing both of BIll's parents and holding the missing posters of their youngest son, Georgie.He went missing that rainy day, and there was a solemn feeling amongst the boys.We rallied to help make sure Bill was feeling okay since he was feeling the most guilt.He didn't tell us why just yet, but we didn't want to ask.That day I volunteered to check in on Bill, the others already taking a turn and we were all keeping tabs on him.School was about to end for Christmas soon enough, and the rest of us were trying to keep tabs on Bill.

 

"We appreciate it, we really do," Bill's mother said to me kindly, having me see the sadness there etched on her face, "It's been hard since Georgie…."She didn't say anything for a moment, already shaking a bit to try and not to cry in front of me.Her husband patted her back soothingly now, trying to not to break himself as he finally spoke up.

 

"We've been getting a good amount of support from other families, but we do appreciate you and your mother," His explained to me, which made me give him almost a forced smile but it was also genuine.I felt bad for Bill's mom and dad, they were far too kind for this to happen.Georgie was a sweet child, always saying hello to me and being so innocent.How he disappeared was beyond anyone's thoughts, but it broke his parents.

 

"Can I go up and say hi to Bill?"I asked hopefully, making they could let me see him for a moment or two.His father thought about it, looking at his wife now who hid her face in her hands.He cleared his throat and looked back at me.

 

"I think Bill would like that very much," He replied, having me smile sweetly at him as I placed the posters within my messenger bag on my shoulder neatly.I then walked up the stairs, hearing with my good ear Mr. Denbrough consoling his wife and guiding her to the living room.

 

"Well find him, sweetheart.I promise we will,"

 

When I got to the second floor, I saw Georgie's bedroom door closed, almost giving me an eery feeling and a small wave of silence now as I looked at the door.I remembered when I would visit, it would be wide open and Georgie would be bouncing around and playing.But now it was silent, which didn't seem normal at all now as I slowly looked over to Bill's room on the right.The door was left ajar, a small sliver of light was there and I could hear some sniffling.

 

Oh, Bill.

 

I walked slowly, placing my fingers on the door and pushing it slightly.The door creaking very faintly as I looked into the bedroom of Bill Denbrough.His bed was in the middle of the room with the headrest against the wall, blankets, and pillows everywhere and clothes sprawled on the floor.It looked like he gave up on his room, and now my own eyes were slowly moving to see Bill sitting on his bed and facing the window.He was looking out the window, not moving too much as I tapped my knuckles softly against the wood.

 

"Bill?" I asked very softly.He didn't move, but I saw his shoulders shaking and another sob escapes from his lips.I left my heart sinking now as I moved into the room and placed my bag on the messy floor, "Oh Bill."

 

I sat down next to him, watching him and seeing the large tears streaks on his cheeks and down his neck.He was clutching and unclutching his hands there in front of him on his lap.He was hurting, I could see it on his face now as I just sat close to him.I didn't know what to tell him, how to take care of him at that moment which was the worst feeling of all.I didn't want him to hurt or feel any pain, but what was I going to do with this?

 

"I t-t-t-t-told him to g-g-g-g-go," Bill said in a mournful tone, having me see how he was suddenly saying all of this out in the open now.I cringed inwardly now as he was confessing what happened, "I was s-s-s-s-sick.I c-c-c-c-couldn't g-g-g-g—" he stopped, slamming his fist against his leg and I reached out within a second to cup his fist on his leg.

 

"Bill," I hushed him, seeing him cry some more and slam his eyes shut, "This was not your fault."I knew why he didn't want to tell us what happened or how he was feeling: He felt as though he sent Georgie to go missing.I could see it etched on his face and in his tears as they were hitting his flannel over and over.

 

"You didn't know that this would happen to him," I kept talking in a hushed tone, "Georgie is a very careful and caring boy, you and I know that.But don't think that you're the main reason that he's missing, Bill."

 

"B-b-b-but it is!" He said in a bolder tone, staring out the window now and not at me which made it worse., "I s-s-s-should have known and s-s-s-s-stopped s-s-s-stopped.." he repeated that word three more times before he was sobbing with his hands covering his face and he hunched over on himself.I instantly grabbed his sides in fear that he was going to fall over in his pain and crying. 

 

I held onto his arms there and was watching him mourn for a solid minute or two since I knew it was the only way for him to get out that burst of agony within him.He was never out to break, he was far stronger than most of the boys at the school.He was cool and calm, but now he was not himself because of something horrid that happened to his brother. 

 

"My mother tells me these stories of people in pain at the hospital," I started to explain, "It's alright to be in pain.But what we have to do with that pain that we feel is pushing to something else, something that could help us," I heard her talk about it plenty of times, talking about how people die and their families are grieving.She didn't want them to grieve forever, she wanted more for them.

 

Bill sniffled when he was done with his crying, wiping his nose with the back of his hand as he finally looked over at me. His eyes were bright red and bloodshot from the tears, his cheeks were glistening and raw from the constant sadness and his hair was getting in his eyes. 

 

"You know we're gonna find him," I reminded him softly and carefully, seeing him watch me dead on.I moved one stray tear from his eye and gave me a week smile, "I know we'll find Georgie.And you know that Stand, Richie, Eddie and I are here for you for anything you need,"

 

He gave me a weak smile, but it was enough to have me some of the old Bill coming through again for a brief moment. 

 

"He'll be home before you know it, you'll see," I gave him one more good piece of advice since it would be something that he needed to hear.I didn't know what else to tell him at that moment because I didn't know what he was feeling.I didn't experience it before, and it made me feel bad to not know how to fix it for him.But he still gave me that small smile that he would only give to his four friends. 

 

Bill was missing his brother and was going through that guilt if only I could take that guilt away and make him feel like himself again. 

 

* * *

 

**June 1989**

 

It was the last day of school, and there was a stirring of uneasiness in the air all over Derry.Most of the people were getting used to that feeling though as if it was just another part of their day.I was just glad this school year was beyond over now as I went out of my own room and weaved through the kids that were flooding to go outside and enjoy their last day of school.I was wearing my blue dress that once filled with my dread, but I was more confident with it now as I had a brown vest to wear over it, my white Chuck Taylor's that were already sporting some stains along the sides of them from all the running around I was in, and my hair was up in a high ponytail.

 

Ever since I had my talk with Bill, the other boys tried to console him as well.He was still grieving over his brother, wondering where he was and if he was okay.Unfortunately, we could tell his parents weren't taking the loss of their youngest well, and they slowly weren't paying too much attention to Bill himself.It was making Bill less and less of their child, but he was booming more and more determined to get his brother back.

 

Another thing that started to happen since Georgie disappeared, other children were lost too.Almost every other week someone was lost and no one could find them.You wouldn't do at least three blocks wit seeing a LOST poster, and newer ones were being added to the collection of long innocent faces and worries parents were spreading them out all over town.There was a curfew of 7 pm, but it didn't stop the disappearances.Now some of the kids were wondering who was going to be next.

 

"See you around, Molly!" One of the girls replied to me as she waved at me.I waved back, walking along.Within the past year, I was slowly making more friends than just having the four boys I would be constantly around.It felt nice that I wasn't going to be hiding in the shadows too often, talking to people in my classes and in between was making me a bit happier compared to how it was when I was younger.The only problem was that the boys were noticing it and they were paying attention.At first, I didn't think of it being a bad thing, but Richie made some kind comment a mostly just a joke, but then again it almost felt like a jab.

 

"Getting popular on us, Molly?" He asked one day when someone waved at me.I gave him a question look now as he almost sounded mockingly hurt, but also genuinely underneath that tone.Eddie ribbed him after he said it as we were walking together over to the quarry.Was I supposed to be offended that he wouldn't want me to be with others outside their circle of friends?

 

What was that about?

 

 

"it's this church full of Jews, right? And Stan has to take this super Jew-y test!"

 

"But, how does it work?"

 

"They slice a tip of his dick off!"

 

"Then Stan will have nothing left!"Stan rushed over to them finally, squeezing between Eddie and Bill.

 

"Hey, guys!"

 

"Hey, Stan, what happens at a Bar Mitzvah anyways?It says they slice the tip fo your d-d-d-dick off?" Bill asked in intrigue.

 

"Yeah and I think the Rabbi's gonna pull down your pants!" Richie said in agreement, "Then he's gonna turn to the crowd and say, ‘where's the beef?' "The others chuckled as I finally caught up with him and wrapped one arm around Eddie and the other around Stand.

 

"Hello boys," I said to them all in the smile.

 

"Heya Molly," Stan said to me as the others were saying hello to me.

 

"You missed out conversation about Stan's Bar Mitzvah coming up in a few weeks," Richie explained to me as they were making their way to the trash can in the front of the school, "Apparently they're gonna chop off his—"

 

"Shut it!" Stan hissed at him as I giggled at how he was trying to stop Richie from saying anything else,"It's nothing, Molly."

 

"Sure sure Stan the Man," Richie joked with him.

 

"At the Bar Mitzvah, I read from the Torah, I make a speech and suddenly I've become a man!" Stan explained as we were weaving through the students in the smaller hallway.Richie was still talking when we were walking past Henry and his gang.I kept my eyes forward since I didn't want to have another confrontational talk with these goons and go through another situation with them.I wasn't afraid fo them too much now, but the boys were just walking and trying to make eye contact too much.

 

Patrick giggled and Henry scowled as he was leaning against the door and analyzing them. I could feel the heat coming down my back now as we were moving farther away from them and their eyes were drilling into our backs.I urged Eddie to walk in front of me now as they were walking, finally hearing Richie pipe up.

 

"Think they'll sign my yearbook?" he asked in a suggestion as we were turning to go down the stairs, " ‘Dear Richie, sorry for taking a hot steamy dump in your backpack.Have a good summer!'."

 

While he was going on, Gretta slammed her way past Stan and over to the same bathroom that I hide in a year ago, a look go death was in her eyes now as Stan and I looked. 

 

"What's her deal?" I asked him as we were still walking.

 

"What's not her deal is the real question," Stand countered back.

 

"True."

* * *

 

 

I watched as the boys were dumping out their backpacks with all of their papers and notebooks into the trash can right outside of school.The rest of the kids were feeling to get their summer started, already thrusting for an adventure as I was.

 

"Best, feeling, ever!" Stan said in relief.

 

"Yeah?Try tickling your pickle for the first time." Richie joked with him and grinned.Of course, as always, Stan was not amused,

 

"Hey, what do you guys wanna do tomorrow," Eddie asked as he got his backpack on again.

 

"My training," Richie answered.

 

"What training?"

 

"Streetfighter."Its made me roll my eyes.

 

"That's how you wanna spend your summer?Inside an arcade?" I asked in a joke, seeing Richie look down for a split second before answering.

 

"Beats being inside Eddie's mother!" Richie said in a joke, raising his hand for Stan to high five.Stan shoved it back down within a split second. 

 

"What if we go to the quarry?" Stan asked in a suggestion.

 

"We can g-go to the barrens," Bill also said to us, having me all say nothing now as we nodded and Stan agreed with him.Eddie looked past me now, his face looking somber.

 

"Betty Ripson's mom," Eddie informed us, all of us looking and seeing the mother there watching the front doors of the school.There was a policeman right behind her, but her face was still looking so hopeful and worried.I cringed a bit seeing her, wondering if I was to go missing myself if my mother would be doing the same thing and making the same worried face.

 

I didn't want to find out.

 

"Does she really expect to see her coming out of the school?" Stan asked

 

"I don't know," Eddie replied, "As if Betty Ripsom's being hiding in Home Ec for the last few weeks."

 

"You think they'd actually find her?" I asked the group.

 

"Sure," Richie replied, "In a ditch, all decomposed, covered in worms and maggots, smelling like Eddie's mom's underwear."

 

"Shut up," Eddie scolded him, already sounded so irritated of him for the day, "It's fucking disgusting!"

 

"She's not d-d-d-dead," Bill said to Richie, "She's m-m-m-m-missing."Ever since Georgie was gone, Bill was still staying hopeful for those who were lost too, thinking that they too were missing and that they would be found again.He would remind us of that from time and time when a new poster was put up. Richie nodded his head in an agreement, not wanting to talk to him at this rate.

 

"Sorry Bill," He apologized, "She's missing."We all looked at each other before we started walking, having me stay with Stan now in front of Richie as Richie steered to another topic, "You know, the Barrens aren't that bad.Who doesn't love to splash around in shitty water?"

 

We heard a gasp and we all looked, seeing Richie being slammed to the floor by Henry who yanked on his backpack.He fell in a heap against Stan and they both fell to the ground, Stan's Kippah that was on his head fell off.Patrick leaned down to snatch it in his hands.

 

"Nice frisbee, flamer," he said to Stan as he held it in front of him within his fingers. 

 

"Give it back!" Stan pleaded, but Patrick threw it into an upcoming bus and it drove up.Belch burped inEddie's face and Henry walked past me and Bill, grumbling "Losers" under his breath as he went.I didn't say anything, but I saw Bill looking beyond angry and he fought to get his words out.

 

"You s-s-s-s-ssuck, Bowers!"

 

Henry and his goons froze, looking at Bill in both amusement and amazement that he told Henry that.I was even afraid that Bill was going to be murdered on the spot for saying that to Henry, let alone sounding so confident when he did.

 

"Shut up, Bill," Eddie warned him in a gasp as I went over to help Stan off the floor.Once I did, I watched Henry slowly make his way over to an angry Bill, looking a bit peeved at himself that someone yelled at him.

 

"You ss-s-s-say something…B-b-b-b-billy?" Henry asked him in a mocked tone, having me stay a bit away now as he was zoning in one Bill, "You got a free ride this year, because of your little brother.Ride's over Denbrough,"he was about to do something else since he was so close to Bill that he could swipe him, but he looked back Bill, even past me, and I looked too.By Betty's mom, another office was there and watching Henry like a hawk.I cringed a bit, knowing who it was.

 

Henry's father.I forget that he's a cop.

 

Henry looked back at Bill, "Summer's gonna be a hurt train, for you and your faggot friends," He mumbled to Bill, licking his hand and wiping it on his face.He then looked back at me, next to Stan and Richie pausing again and having me give him a dirty look. 

 

There was no denying that he paused when he did, he always did since I pushed him down and gave him a piece of his own medicine.But ever since that day in the hallway, he never approached nor touched me, none of his goons did.Even Patrick, after that remark with me, never once came close enough to touch me.Maybe I was a girl, or maybe they knew I would fight back.

 

Either way, he was afraid.

 

I watched him back carefully, not knowing if I felt safe cause his father was there, or that I was still not afraid of him.He then turned away, his goons behind him as they walked to the car parked on the other side of the ride, a smooth blue car.

 

"Wish he'd go missing," Richie commented.

 

"He's probably the one doing it," Eddie added with venom in his voice.Eddie then looked up at me now with some fascination, "And he's still afraid of you."

 

"Doubtful," I commented.

 

"Ever since you pushed him a year ago, the guys won't come near you with a 12-inch yardstick," Richie explained, "Seriously, He's more shocked that he pushed by a girl and you got away with it."

 

"Yeah, well if I was a dude he would have killed me already." I explained to them as we were walking once more, "For once in my life I'm thankful that I am a girl."

 

"Be thankful you have tits," Richie commented as I swiped him upside his head.

 

"Beep, beep, asshole!" I scolded.

 

"Sorry milady!"


	8. You Sure You Got The Right Stuff?

******June 1989**

 

"Are you here to get some of the supplies for your mom?"

 

"Yes, sir," I smiled at the men there as he nodded his head.He then pointed to the back

 

"I'll be right back." He walked away from me, going over towards the back of the store and started rummaging through some of the things way out of earshot.I was finally having some alone time were in the pharmacy and drug store in downtown Derry, going on an errand for my mom since the boys were going to go investigating the barrens.Not that I wasn't interested, but I felt like going to the Barrens was a bit too much for my liking since kids were dropping left and right. 

 

Bill was determined to go down there, ever since Georgie was missing back in October he was thinking that somewhere within the sewer, Georgie was hiding or wasting away even.No one wanted to call him crazy, we didn't have the heart.He still had the urge to find Georgie, and who was I to say no to him.

 

Well, I had to today.

 

"Hey there, Harper," I looked over at none other than Gretta, seeing her sit on the otherwise of the counter and write through her notebook.Her father ran the pharmacy, so she would be here every once in a while.Gretta and I had an okay relationship, I didn't run into her and vice versa.She didn't like Beverly Marsh that's for sure, along with a few of the others in my group.But with me, for some odd reason, she was neutral.

 

"Hey Gretta,' I mumbled back to her, shifting my backpack strap on my shoulders now and keeping to myself.She eyed me, placing her pencil down and then pointing to my implant there against my head.

 

"Does that thing hurt?" She asked, and she sounded more curious than mean about it.No one up until that point really asked me about my implant, maybe everyone around me thought it would be taboo to point it out since they are so used to it being on my head.This was a first in a while for me now as she was watching for my reaction.I could slap read people and their faces since I would need to read their faces in order to know what they are saying when my hearing was bad.From how she was looking at me, I didn't see meaningless.

 

Just a serious person.

 

"It did at first, not anymore," I replied to her simply. She nodded slowly as she finally tore her eyes away from me when her father walked back with the bus of supplies that I would get from my mother and the hospital. 

 

"Should I charge it on the hospital; account?" He asked me as Gretta started to pack her backpack.Our small little moment together or being neutral friends was gone as I nodded at her father.

 

"My mom says that's fine," I answered, seeing him grin as he handed the bag across the way and I took it in both hands, "Thanks."

 

"Anytime, Molly.Make sure you stay out of trouble, alright?" He asked me, sounding like something he would say to every person that would buy something from him.I just nodded my head as Gretta walked around at the corner and waved at her father.

 

"See ya dad!" She said to him as she gave me a small smile, "Bye Harper."

 

"See, ya, Gretta!" He replied as she walked.I looked over and followed her eyes when I saw something flash by in another aisle.It made me raise an eyebrow now.What else could be going the wrong way other than Gretta being somewhat civil to me?That was already shocking to me, to say the least as I finally walked down another aisle to see none other than three of my four friends, huddling together.

 

Eddie was holding medical supplies, Stan was holding three bucks that were crumbled, and Bill was looking beyond confused when I saw them all staring at Beverly Marsh, who was hiding something behind her back. 

 

They were locking eyes with each other now, having me give Beverly wide eyes as she finally saw me past the boys.

 

"Molly?" She asked, the boys whirling around and they saw me with my bag and they looked relieved and shocked to see me at the same time.I walked over to the group of them, clearing feeling like I was walking into an awkward conversation.

 

"What's going on?" I asked them.

 

"There's a kid outside who got hurt really bad at the Barrens, and we need to help him," Eddie explained, still cradling his supplies from the shelves against his chest.It made me snap my eyes at Stan since he would be the one that was mostly truthful to be and rational. 

 

"What happened to him?" I asked.

 

"We don't know," Stan replied, "But we can't afford all of this,"

 

"I can help, hang on," Beverly reassured them as she walked past them and myself to go to the back of the store.While she was walking past us, I noticed she was carrying a box in her hands in a death grip and I saw the small flash of colors.

 

Tampons.

 

 

When she was going and clearly talking to Gretta's father, I finally walked over to the group fo them and talked under my breath.

 

"Seems like I can't leave you guys at the Barrens alone," I explained, "You get some kid hurt."

 

"Not our fault that someone was running from someone and is bleeding out," Eddie replied in a snort.

 

"He's bleeding?" I asked, almost in shock, "Take him to the hospital then, he can see my mom!"

 

"We can't!I know how to fix him up but I just need some stuff.Plus if my mom finds out I'm at the hospital without her she'll freak!" Eddie answered him, having me tear my eyes over to Bill now.He was quiet throughout the whole ordeal and talk that was going on in the store, and even how he was looking at me, something else was going on.

 

"Bill?" I asked him, noticing that he was still thinking within his head.It was not like Bill to say anything at this point, but either something big just happened, or he was in deep thought.He's been like that lately, every since Georgie went missing. 

 

"Look, Richie is outside with the kid and we need to help him out," Eddie said to me finally, then noticing my bag with supplies, "We can use those!"

 

"And have me get in trouble with my mother?" I countered back with him, "Yeah right!They're for the hospital, Eddie."There was a loud clatter, all of us looking to see Beverly purposefully pushing some of the merchandise that was on the counter over to be on the other side.She made it looked like an accident, starting to apologize and then looking over her shoulder at us. 

 

It was a distraction.

 

* * *

 

 

"He's over here," I followed Bill as Stan and Eddie were rushing in front of us and around the corner outside the pharmacy.They were going into the alleyway now as I was hanging back with Bill and watching the boys sprint away now.It made me have a small moment with Bill now as we were close enough to talk softly with each other.

 

"Bill, what's going on?" I asked him as I placed my arm out to stop him at the opening of the alleyway.he was watching me and then looking back at the boys who were going farther into the alleyway.I could see where they stopped, there was a larger boy sitting against the brick wall, all of their bikes thrown at the floor, and Richie who was talking to the boy. 

 

"I f-f-f-found something in the B-b-b-barrens," he explained to me, "B-b-b-betty Ripsom's s-s-s-s—" He couldn't finish the word but I knew what he was saying.

 

"Shoe," I finished for him, seeing him nod his head.

 

"It was there in the w-w-water of the barrens.I t-t-t-think she's in there," He explained some more now, having me cringe a bit since we saw her mother a few days before at the school.Why would be in the sewers in the first place? 

 

"M-m-maybe we can f-f-f-find her," he explained some more to me now as I was watching him think to himself now as he kept talking as if he was talking to himself and getting the words out, "And if s-s-she's there, then G-g-g-georige—"

 

"Georgie could be?" I asked him, seeing him pause and think about what he was saying.He never gave up just yet, even going along the lines of planning scenario after scenario in his head as to why happened and where Georgie could have gone.I wondered what theories he came up with and if they were true, he was smart after all.But I also wondered if anyone listened to him or cared.

 

He looked past me, seeing none other than Beverly Marsh walking over to the both of us with her white bag that made her tampon in them.Clearly, it was hiding with the bag and in her other hand was a pack of cigarettes.

 

Bill was gobsmacked when she walked up, not saying a word an looking bright eyed in the face.I looked at him, shocked that he was staring at Beverly like she was the most important thing in the world.I was fascinated with that look, and how Beverly just casually smiled when she approached the both of us.Bill immediately throated his hand in his pocket to dig some a few dollars to give to her.

 

"H-h-h-here." He stumbled with his words.

 

"Even Steven," she replied back smoothly, holding up the pack of cigarettes and winking at him.She then smiled at me now, "Heya Molly."

 

"Hi Beverly," said back to her, Bill looking at me in shock now as Beverly looked down the alley at the boys.She looked intrigued now, walking ahead of us now and saying, "Ben from Soc?"

 

"You k-k-k-know Beverly?" He asked me, having me just nod my head as I watched her approach the boys.

 

"Remember last year when I had that meltdown over my dress?" I asked, the both of us walking down the hallway now to meet with the others. Eddie was patching up the boys' stomach as Stan and Richie watched, "She was the girl in the bathroom that helped me feel better."

 

"Oh," Bill replied as we listened in on their conversation.Eddie moved up and away from the boy when Beverly approached the boys, and the others looked at her as if they were caught and they didn't know what to do. 

 

"Are you okay, that looks like it hurts," Beverly said to the boy.

 

"Oh, no I'm okay, I'm good," The boys replied with a shy grin at her, "I just…fell"

 

"Yeah, into Henry Bowers!" Richie added in a snarky remark.

 

"S-s-s-shut it R-R-R-Richie," Bill scolded him.

 

"Why?It's the truth!" Richie argued, he then looked over at me and I gave him a concerned looked.He shook his head, seeing what I silently told him if they got in trouble too.He signed _No_ to me and I sighed almost in relief.

 

"You sure they got the…right stuff, to fix you up?" Beverly asked the boy, whom looked away and was completely smitten by what she said.Maybe he was an inside joke I didn't know, but it felt like it.

 

"You know w-w-w-w-well take care of him, thanks again Beverly," Bill thanked him, already looking does eyes again at her.In fact, all of the boys were watching her in intrigue now since it felt like she came in and was bursting their familiar bubble as friends.

 

"Sure, maybe I'll see you around," She replied back to him, making it sound like the rest of us were out of the picture and it was just the two of them talking.

 

"Yeah we were thinking of going to the Q-q-q-quarry tomorrow if you wanted to come," The rest of the boys were shocked that Bill invited her to come to the quarry, I was a bit shocked myself really since it felt like that was our own space.I had a bit heating about it since I didn't know Beverly far too well, and the look of Richie's face showed that he wasn't too pleased with someone else coming.Even the young boy whom I didn't know looked a bit uneasy about it.

 

"Good to know, thanks," She replied, then waving me, "Bye Molly."

 

"Bye," I replied as she walked away and waving at the boys one last time.I finally looked back at the group now, seeing them all replay the minute of conversation with Beverly in their brains now.

 

"You know her?" Richie asked me in wonder, almost offended, "Since when are you buddies with Beverly Marsh."

 

"When she helped me out in the bathroom after Patrick commented on my breasts," I replied smoothly back to him, seeing him go quiet and Eddie dust his fingers off his pants. It made me look down at the boy, seeing him shift awkwardly on the floor against the wall.He was feeling a bit out of place since we were having somewhat of an awkward conversation.Stan finally changed the subject. 

 

"Nice going for bringing up Bowers in front of her!" Stan scolded Richie.

 

"Yeah dude, you heard what she did?" Eddie asked him now, the boy tilting his head up to listen since he was still on the floor.

 

"What'd she do?" The boy asked.I was now looking at Richie too to see what he was going to say.

 

"More like who's she do.From what I heard the list is longer than my wang!" Richie joked as he, of course, ragged himself in front of the group.Eddie, of course, averted his eyes, like I did as Stan scoffed.I heard those stories too, and boy those rumors were cruel and mean about her. 

 

"That's not saying much," Stan countered back, making me grin now as I faintly spoke to the boys.

 

"There just rumors," I reassured the boy now as he was going back and forth with our antics.

 

"Anyways, Bill had her back in 3rd grade!They kissed in the school play, the reviews said they can't fake that sort of passion!" Richie said in glee now as Stan was clearly giving Bill a big grin on his face and seeing Bill squirm a bit.I felt bad for the boy now as he was sitting there in an awkward conversation.I squatted down in front of him, holding out my hand for him to shake.

 

"My name's Molly," I explained, "Sorry for these boys for not introducing me.Such bad manners."The boy grinned and shook my hand.He had a gentle handshake to match his gentle smile that he was giving me.

 

"Molly's another friend of ours," Eddie explained, "Her mother's a nurse and Molly's pretty cool."

 

"Not to mention her cochlear implant makes her a cyborg!" Richie commented, having em sigh and look up at him as the boy was looking at him too, "What, you want me to lie?"

 

"I'm Ben," the boy finally replied, seeing me smile at him, "I've seen you around at school."I smiled widely at him, seeing the gentleness and shyness all over him now as Richie finally spoke up again.

 

"Now, pip-pip and tally ho my food fellows!I do believe this chap requires our utmost attention"Richie said in his British accent. I moved over a bit and Eddie was going back to work now with some of his own supplies that they stole. 

 

"Get in there Dr. K and Dr. H!Come on, fix him up!' Richie said to the both of us.Stand knelt down a bit to see us working as I was getting the supplies out for Eddie to do.I may have done this a few times in my life, but Eddie wanted things done in a specific way. 

 

"Why don't you shut the fuck up Einstein because Molly and I know what we're doing, and I don't you to do the British guys while I'm trying to—." Eddie started to explain as Richiecut in once more,

 

"Suck the wound!Get in there!"


	9. You Read That?

The next day we went to the Quarry, and all of the boys were standing over the cliff that looked far down into the water.All of the boys were in their underwear, white briefs and were spitting loogies down into the water below.We seemed so high up and how the boys were engine each other one was enough for me to just watch in amusement.

 

At the current moment, they were spitting down into the water, going one by one before they were obnoxiously making the noises to get the mucus in their mouths.Every time they would play the game they would ask if I wanted to join.Richie would ask, the others knew that I wasn't into it.And I would always say no. 

 

Just like this time.Only this time, they're gonna jump in from the cliff.

 

We've never done that before, well, they've never done that.I was still feeling a bit uneasy being in the water for far too long, but since I learned from Richie the summer before and I knew the basics, I thought I would be brave that day when they all stood there with their twos barely touching the edge.But when I saw how tall it was, the bravery went away.

 

"You sure you don't wanna join?" Richie asked me playfully, with a chuckle on his lips.I just smiled at him and grabbed the bottom of my shirt.

 

"No, thanks," I replied, pulling the shirt over my head. I was wearing a one-piece black suit, knowing that the boys were going to swim in the quarry.I was used to swimming just in a shirt and shorts with them, and it was never a problem.But now that my mother was noticing that I was older and growing, she got me a one piece suit.I was pretty much fine with that, better to wear that than chaffing with my shirts and shorts alone. 

 

I kept my shorts on that were halfway up my thighs as I felt the sun hit my skin.Sighing in relief, I smiled widely to myself and closed my eyes, feeling the sun against me and giving me a new high of adrenaline.I cracked one eye open now as I saw the other boys were watching me briefly.I eyed them all now as they were amazed that I was wearing something other than shorts and a t-shirt.And I thought the dress was bad when I was twelve.This almost felt worse.

 

Almost.

 

"What?" I asked, seeing them all clear their throats and look in a different direction.But the one person that was looking for a moment later was Richie, who was blushing furiously now as he looked down at his feet now.I grabbed the cochlear implant and took it would carefully, something I was practicing every once in a while now and I got the hang of it.I placed the device on the top of my shirt an wrapped it up just in case.My hearing was a bit off again, but I was no longer afraid of it.

 

"Alright, who's first?" Bill asked the group, having all of us look down at the water now as I was feeling the uneasiness come back again.Was it safe enough for me?Was I going to panic and swallow too much water?Did I forget all the Richie taught me?No one said anything and I was about to volunteer to walk down to the edge and meet them there when someone spoke up from behind us.

 

‘I'll go."

 

It was Beverly, and we all looked behind us to see her put her bike down.None of us heard her ride up, and she was taking off her dress completely.I was memorized for a mere moment on how bold she was, not to mention the new look she was sporting.

 

Short red hair.

 

"Sissies," She said to them in glee.She was wearing blue panties and a white bra, casually throwing her dress down and then started to jog our way with a big grin on her face.The boys split in half from seeing her run past them and she jumped off the cliff without a single dose of hesitance on her.

 

‘What the Fuck!" Richie said in a gas now as she was shooting down into the water.I smiled so widely, seeing the pure bravery in how she was jumping off with nothing holding her back.For a second I envied her ebbing so brave, but then I remembered what she told me when I was crying in the bathroom stall, saying that I wasn't brave.

 

I think you are.

 

"Do we have to do that too?" Stan asked in a groan now as she splashed into the water.

 

"Come on!" She called from below.

 

"Yes," Eddie replied, having me breathe out one final breath.Sure I was about to be one stupid move that could really kill me, not to mention still ebbing uneasy around water.But the fact that someone like Beverly, who was brave enough to be my friend and the friends to the boys, jumped off with no avail.Well, I could do that too.

 

And that's what I did.

 

"Molly!" Richie called out as I ran past them and jumped up and out into the open.I felt like I was flying, nothing was holding me down or out and nothing was trying to hurt me.I was alone there, up in the air and the wind was pushing the hair into my eyes and through my outstretched fingers.For a brief moment, I felt like a bird, and then I felt myself falling into the water below.My stomach was moving around aimlessly and my head was swimming on how much of an idiot I was for doing something like this.But I was giggling as I was falling.

 

Two years ago I wouldn't have done this, even a year ago it was going to be a surprise if I did.But there I was, being engulfed by the water and feeling my heart pump so fast and hard like a train.I was seeing things under the water now, but a small glimpse of someone who was swimming my way made me swim back up tot he surface and move my legs about.I remembered what Richie taught me, poking my head up from the water now and gasping for air as Beverly was grinning at me.Her short hair was plastered to the back of her head and neck, but her grin was wide.

 

"I told you that you were brave."

 

Another splash was heard behind us as we both swam around to see who it was.The erosion who popped their head up next was Richie, seeing him gasp and splutter for air as he came up from the water.He blinked like a crazy person, not knowing where he was at first without his glasses.But he then saw me and swam over like a madman, placing his hands on my shoulders and almost shaking me.I could see the look of panic on his face.

 

"Holy Shit, Molly!You're okay!" He said in a panic voice.I chuckled and nodded my head as he then hugged me there in the water.I was shocked that he did that, maybe he thought I was going to hurt myself since I wasn't a good in the water as the others were.I hugged him back briefly.I could see past Richie' shoulder at Beverly, who was giving me a small grin from seeing the interaction.

 

"Of course I'm fine," I reminded him, "You taught me, remember?"

 

"Yeah, but I didn't teach you how to jump off a fucking cliff!" He contended back with me as he moved back to look on my face.Another person jumped into, having me see a flash of curls there as he hit the water.Stan.

 

"I guess I'm a little braver now thanks to you guys," I replied as Stan swam over to us now, and then others were jumping in one by one.That small interaction with him was enough to give me a small number of butterflies that were within my own stomach.I wondered why I was feeling this at that moment as the others were swimming to us and we started playing in the water.That moment was long gone when we started to play in the water, but I remembered it for a long while after that. 

 

I would always remember that moment with Richie.

 

* * *

 

 

I was walking back over to the group to grab my shirt and throw it back on over my head.My long hair was getting dry in the sunshine as the water against my skin was slowly drying off from walking and coming out of the river. It was such a lovely day but I figured I would throw my shirt back on and then my shoes as well, already pushing the boundaries on how much skin I was going to show.I was still bit shy when it came to my body,

 

Once I placed my implant back in my ear and got it perfectly, I instantly hear something moving behind me within the woods.It sounded like feet, making me turn and look to see who it was.Was it one of the guys?Was I being followed by Henry or his goons?I saw nothing, and it made me freeze since I knew it sounded like feet.

 

I heard it again, now all the way to the right now and it sounded like running.I snapped my head in that direction too, once again seeing nothing now as I saw a glimpse of something behind one of the thicker trees.It was dark against the bark, and I could see that they were fingers that were pressing against the tree.I cringed, my eyes going wide and my whole stance was stiff now from what I was seeing.

 

It was a dead hand, against the bark.

 

It was clinging onto it like a lifeline.The whole skin was charcoaled black, maybe even a few pieces were about to come off as it was shaking slightly.Was someone hurt?I didn't know what to do now since I was petrified of moving.I was about to ask if they needed help when their fingers were dragging against the bark.Once they were dragging, a screeching sound was heard like the nails on the bark were on a chalkboard.I squinted slightly now as the fingers there on the charcoal hand finally made marks against the trees.The sound made me cringe so bad from how rough and right it sounded.I had to cover both of my ears now since it felt like it was getting louder and louder.Why was it making that sound, and why was I petrified to go closer.I was screaming to run since that hand was shaking that noise and that hand did not look safe at all.

 

But I wasn't moving. 

 

Of course, I moved my leg behind me and I slipped on something, having me fall backward and fall onto the forest floor in a heap.Now I was looking up at the sky now, seeing the trees hovering over me.As soon as I landed on the floor the sound stopped and it was quiet once again there int he forest.My hands were sprawled at my sides, my breath was still going fast from what I saw, and I was beyond confused as to what was happening.

 

I slowly got back up from the ground looking back in the direction where the sound and the hand was. But once I found the tree where it was all happening, I saw nothing there.There was no tree, no more sound there.All that was left were the scratch marks against the bark.They were crisp and clean, and I looked in confusion as to what just happened. 

 

I got my composure again as I could hear the others back at the opening near the river laughing and talking about something together.I turned my heel, already trying to think that maybe it was something in my head and some kind of imagination that was taking over in me.Maybe I was just tired and all of the disappearances of kids was getting to me, or something else was coming through the air since Georgie was gone, but I tried to regain my own head again as I was walking away and over to the group.

 

Little did I know that there was a red balloon floating behind me near the tree.

 

* * *

 

"New's flash, Ben!School's out! for summer!"I sat down next to Stan now as Richie was using his mocking radio voice, looking in Ben's backpack.Beverly was sunbathing on one of the rocks as the others were sitting around and listening to the radio that they brought out. 

 

"Oh, that?That's not school stuff," Ben said to him as Richie pulled out a postcard. 

 

"Who sent you this?"

 

"No one!" Ben said in earnest as he took the postcard away out in haste.Once he did, Richie took out another folder that was darker, opening it and seeing all of the newspaper clippings within the folder, asking him why he had all of those.

 

"Oh, well, when I first moved here, I didn't have anyone to hang out with," Ben explained as Richie showed the clippings to Bill, "So I just started spending time in the library."

 

"You went to the library?On purpose?" Richie asked, almost a bit shocked.

 

"Oh, I wanna see," Beverly said as she got up from her sunbathing rock and walked over to sit next to Bill.I could tell how both Ben and Bill were looking at her now in earnest as if they were captivating by her from the moment they saw her yesterday.I didn't get what that was, maybe it was because I didn't have that with another person.

 

But they looked at her like she hung the stars.Wait…was I becoming jealous?

 

"Pass it back," Richie asked Bill, getting the clips again now as he finally spoke the infamous question, "Why is it all murder's a missing kids?"

 

"Derry's not like any other town I've been in before," Ben started to explain, all of us listening, They did a study once.As it turned out, people die or disappear 6 times the national average."

 

"You read that?" I asked him carefully, seeing Ben look over at me and nod his head.

 

"And that's just grown-ups," He went on, "Kids are worse.Way, way worse."It gave me a sinking feeling now in my stomach, thinking of all the places here in America, it would have to be in Derry that these things are happening.I thought what he said about the grown-ups was bad enough, but now the kids?It was having me squirm a bit in my spot next to Stan and rethink back a moment before when I saw that dead hand against the tree, scratching his nails and making that horrendous sound that made me want to scream.I felt terrified then, and I don't know why I was feeling terrified now. 

 

"You okay?" Stan asked, having me snap out of mentally picturing the hand against the tree bark.I looked at him, seeing him look at my other hand was taping my cochlear implant on instinct and out of habit.I placed it back down in my lap, no realizing that I was looking silly. Even Rihcie looked over at me now after he heard Stan, and his face was unconvinced how as I was hiding what I did. Maybe Stan could be fooled, but Richie could read my like a book. And he was.

 

"Yeah, Yeah I'm fine."


	10. You See It Too?

"Your mom is down a few levels, G2."

 

"Thanks,' I replied to the receptionist as I was back at the hospital.I walked past her over to the elevators, holding my backpack with some of my books to read and kill time.I was going to meet with my mom at the end of her shift, but I was still reeling with what I learned from being at Ben's house a few days ago after our swim at the Quarry.

 

He showed us all that he was researching since they moved into Derry a few months back.He was lonely and needed something to do, so to the library, he went. He was diving into the history of our town was finding some odd things and occurrences with the past.Inside the founders all disappearing without a trace, and for some odd reason, the trail of blood was lead to a well house of some sort. 

 

It was a bit frightening to listen to, and though some of the boys didn't really get heavily into what Ben was invested in, the one who was fully listening was Bill.Of course, it would be Bill, even I could see the wheels turning in his head and going over and over.It felt more like a mystery.

 

After we met at his house, we all had to separate for the day.I knew I had to make an appearance with my mom since it felt like I haven't had any real time with her since we started summer.Plus I would want to have some time away from the eeriness that was over the group of us.Maybe it was because of the disappearances, or that Ben was showing us the bloody past of our town, but I needed to take a step back and breathe.

 

I hit the right button for the level, seeing the doors closed in front of me as I waited for the elevator to move.Since they were double doors, the elevators here were old, pretty old enough to take its' time to warm up and move to the right level.After a moment or so it was moving slowly, having me hear the wheels above me on top of the elevator and I could see my reflection in the mirror. 

 

My hair was still a bit wavy from the jump into the water, the warmth of the sun still against my skin and my face was a tint of red from being sunburnt.I could see my implant poking out on the side of my head, having me reach up to touch it when something else came into view behind me.It was glistening, very faintly but it seemed like it was close enough for me to reach around to touch it. I was frozen still to the bone, my eyes going wide and my hand was freezing to stop from touching my implant.

 

A red balloon, floating right behind me.

 

I didn't want to move, thinking that it was going to pop right behind me or hit me in the face if I did.But it was right at my eye level, having me hear it move to and fro in the air with some invisible force holding it there.I breathed out a shallow breath.feeling the elevator then slowing down and then stopping with a halt.I cringed as the doors behind me finally opened, not the ones in front of me.The balloon floated out and I turned around slowly to see where I needed and on which floor.

 

I was in a longish hallway, gray and cold enough to give me a chill as the blazon was still floating down the hallway.For some reason, I was finding myself walking towards the balloon.I don't know I wanted to follow that balloon, but there was some kind of pull and grainy that was making me want to follow it more and more now as I was walking further into the hallway.I could have sworn I could hear voices coming from somewhere close by, making me almost do adouble take as I was starting to hear things.

 

"Molly….Molly…."

 

The balloon finally floated to an open door that was at the end of the hallway now, the voices that I was hearing were getting louder and louder now as I was about to go through the doors myself.But I paused, not knowing if I should since I had no clear clue as to what was going on why I was down here.Something was off, I could feel it like a chill going down my spine as something else was being said in my head.

 

"Float with us….float with us…..float…..float…..float!"

 

As soon as I walked into the next room, I saw it was pitch black.It was about to make me have a full-on panic attack since there was nothing heard.I went to turn around when the door behind me slammed shut.The sound was so loud that I scared out in sheer fright, running around to feel for the handle to shake and get out.Now I was really panicking and really worrying that I was going to get hurt.I was taking and banging on the door now, seeing the small sliver of an image through the one window that was there on the door.I looked out, seeing the elevators slowly closing at the end of the hallway where I started. 

 

"HELP!" I screamed into the room now, thinking that someone out there was going to listen.But as soon as I said it, something else made a noise right me.It was almost like a groan, making me freeze and finally see the lights in the room I was in turn on.One of the lights was flickering now as I slowly turned to see where I was.I finally got a glimpsed was confused as to what this place was.

 

There were plenty of doors in the wall, three stacked high and on both sides of the wall.The doors were slick of steel, and they were big enough fit something that was bigger than a bag in there. The red balloon was floating in the middle of the room, with a drain right underneath it on the tile floor.The floor was pristine, along with the tile walls now. 

 

Nothing happening for a moment, but then slowly I heard one bang against one of the doors.Something on the other side of the door was hitting it hard, at first just one time, then another bang, then it was getting faster and fast now.

 

They sounded desperate like someone was trying to come out.

 

Another bang was heard behind another door, getting faster and faster now as more and more doors were banging in need and urgency.I was frozen there, hearing almost all of the doors now and seeing something shake against their locks so hard from the banging.I was pushing my body against the door more and more, thinking that I could hit it open with my body since my own voice was lost and my head was spinning. 

 

"Come float with us Molly," A voice sang now over the banging, having me hear that the voice was coming from the drain under the red balloon.The voice sounded high pitched, almost like a maniac and trying to be comical at the same time.But it didn't sound anything safe at all, I looked in horror as something was slowly coming up and over the drain.I whirled behind me to reach for the handle, but something was off and I looked in horror.

 

There was no handle.There was no way out.It disappeared.

 

"I have plenty of friends here for you," The voice said again from the drain as I was pushing against the door now with a bit more force as I looked out the hallway.The lights were flickering off now, having me feel more and more panic now as there was no real reason for me to get out of there and no real way for me escape. 

 

"You'll float too."

 

I felt something wet under my feet now, soaking my shoes as I looked down.There was water, plenty of water now as it seemed like it was coming from somewhere.I looked behind me to see where it was coming from.Out from the drain in the middle of the room was water, spewing from what could be the sewers.It was coming out slowly, the banging on the doors was getting heavier and more frantic now as the water was now coming out in a heavy rate. 

 

One of the doors shot open, a charcoaled hand came out and clung onto the wall now.I finally realized where I was as another door was opening now from the force of the banging.Another set of hands were coming out and trying to grab onto something on the walls.They looked burned, like whoever it was died from being burned alive.

 

I was in the morgue.

 

The water was slowly rising now, having it almost touch my ankles now as I was feeling panic slip through my throat and I was hitting my body hard against the door.A part of my brain was telling me that this was not real and I was imagining all of it.There couldn't be dead bodies coming out now and trying to get out of those doors.But then it sounded so real: the banging on the doors as more there opening and the sound of some kind of fire within those doors.I was hitting my whole body against the doors now as I then had another fear.If there were no windows in the room, and the water was getting higher and higher, I was going to drown.

 

My worst fear. 

 

I hit the door once extra hard, the door rattling now as got some kind of leverage there on the door.I looked back behind me and I saw a few of the hands were slowly booming arms as the bodies were coming out of the doors.They were mostly skeletons, looking at me now and hissing as the water was now almost to my calves.I looked back at the door and took in one more breath.I wasn't going to die like this, whether it was in my head or not.This was not going to kill me.I finally moved away a bit, giving myself some room as I finally kicked the door hard with my right foot.

 

Once I hit the door with my foot, the door opened and I fell through.The water rushed out as I fell to the floor, being splashed in the face from the extra water almost going up my nose. I got myself up, slipping and running as I was trying to make my way to the elevator.The doors were slowly opening with the light inside as I looked behind me once more, seeing the frantic hands reaching out from the morgue doors. 

 

Finally, I got to the elevator doors, sliding inside and falling to the floor and I hit my back against the wall, facing the hallway again. There was still water all over the floor and the doors were still open in the morgue.But instead of a red balloon over the drain, there was something else.Someone else.

 

A clown.

 

His red hair and white face, yellow eyes and the white outfit was enough to make me cringe against the wall of the elevator.He was watching me with a tilt of the head, putting up one hand at me now and then waving me with a vicious smile at me while the doors were closing. 

 

"I'll make sure you'll float too." He said to me in a booming voice as the doors finally closed.

 

I finally met Pennywise.

 

* * *

 

Of course, I said nothing to my mother now since I was too petrified to say anything.I was still crying when the doors opened back up and I was back in the lobby.One of the nurses named Betty was there, seeing me stumble out of the elevator and hyperventilating.She was an older black woman, helped me to my feet and walking me over to her station as she got one of the other nurses to call my mother.I was sobbing so hard that she had to calm me down, noticing the water stains on my shoes and legs now.She asked what happened, and I had to lie.There was no way she was going to believe what I saw and what I felt.

 

"Toilet explosion in the bathroom."

 

My mom took me home, seeing that I wasn't in the right mind to talk about it just yet.I was too tight-lipped and too paranoid to tell her, which I could see broke her heart because I would be able to tell her anything.Even my own mother wouldn't believe me, how I felt like I was going to drown and also be eaten by dead people because of one stupid clown.And that voice.

 

The voice.

 

I went home and took a cold shower, sleeping through the night with a dreamless slumber.I woke up early the next morning thinking that was worst of it was going to be over now.I even wondered if what happened to me at the hospital was, in fact, all in my head, all of it being a dream or some kind of sick joke my brain was playing me.it felt real though, way too real for it not to be a dream.I got up and walked over to my mirror on the dresser.

 

I had to take a few deep breaths now, thinking that it would help me from remembering what happened in the hospital.After I did those deep breaths, I looked at my implant that was resting on the top of the dresser, with shaky hands I placed it back on my hear and moved my hair from my eyes now, seeing my reflection.I was used to how I looked before I saw those things in the morgue, feeling confident and brave.But what I saw really shook me to my core, Almost having me revert back to my old 4 years old self with nothing to hold onto or to lean on.

 

There was a tap on the window.

 

I looked over my shoulder, seeing Eddie there at the window and looking a bit off.I walked over to open the door.

 

"We need to go to Beverly's house," He said to me, having me raise an eyebrow at him.

 

" 'We'?" I asked, looking past him on the street and see the others on their bikes and waiting for me.Bill, Stan, Ben, and Richie were all looking at me now as I looked back at Eddie.  They looked a bit panicked too, which was neve ra good sign.

 

"What's wrong?" I asked, finally looked over at Eddie.He looked just as lost as I was as he shook his head.

 

"No idea."

 

* * *

 

 

"In there…"

 

"What is it?"

 

"You'll see."I stood next to Ben and Stan as Beverly lead the group of us into the hallway now of her apartment.She lived on the poorer side of town, her father being one of the janitors at our school was enough to have them live there.Her father was out, and with her warning that he wouldn't be pleased that boys were in her apartment, Richie was told to wait outside for the watch in case.Her hallway was dark, but she pointed to the door now and I could feel another chill do down my spine as Bill walked towards it and us behind him.

 

"Great, bringing us to the bathroom," Eddie commented in panic, "You know that 89% of the worse accidents occur in the bathroom and kitchen.And that's where all the bacteria and fungi are….and it's not a hygienic place…" He stopped when the door was pushed open and we all saw was inside. Her bathroom, from head to toe, was red.

 

Red in blood.

 

"I knew it!" Eddie gagged and I covered my mouth briefly as we were all looking at every inch of it being covered in blood.There was not one spot that wasn't red, and it looked thick and sticky.I was afraid to place my hand somewhere.It even gave off a rent tint on our faces as we watched the whole bathroom in front of us, not even stepping into the area just yet. 

 

"You see it?" Beverly asked us in a scared tone.

 

"Y-yes," Eddie stuttered in a whisper.

 

"What happened in here?" Stan asked the infamous question.

 

"My dad couldn't see it.I thought I might be crazy," Beverly admitted to us now.

 

"Well, if you're crazy, then we're all crazy," Ben said to her as he too was looking at all the red all over the place.I gulped a bit now.

 

"Trust me, you're not crazy," I reassured her with my own shaky breath. 

 

"We c-c-c-can't leave it like this," Bill said to the group, and we all looked at him wondering what he was thinking of doing.But he then looked back at us now and then I saw him roll up his baseball shirt sleeve.

 

For the next hour or so, we cleaned the bathroom top to bottom. 

 

* * *

 

When I walked back down the emergency stairs on the outside of the apartment and over to Richie, he was watching the others dump our bags full of towels that were doused in blood into the dumpster.I could tell something was turning in his mind and he was wondering what just happened, but not one person was telling him just yet.I took my big bag over to the dumpster and I could see Richie out of the corner of my eye follow me now in earnest as he left this bike on the floor next to mine.

 

"What happened?" He asked, "Christ you guys took forever and a day!"

 

"You don't wanna know," I replied to him.

 

"Well, if I'm asking I do wanna know!" He said back to me, having me throw the bag over the top into the dumpster and turn to face him.Since I had two free hands I signed to him since I knew he was the only one who knew enough signs to sign back to me without hesitance. 

 

 _"No, you don't."_ I signed back to him, taking in my own deep breath and I could see he was watching me.I wasn't myself, not since that incident in the hospital.I wasn't as confident as I was before, something inside me was shaken and was not bouncing back.

 

 _"What happened with you?_ "He signed to me, seeing that I was biting my lower lip and I shook my head.He shook his head back since he knew I wasn't going to say anything now to him, _"Something happened, and you’re not telling me.Please tell me."_

 

 _"You wouldn't believe me."_ I signed back to him now as the others were gathering up.I placed my hands down now and I looked over to the others now, seeing that they too looked out of it from what happened.Stan saw how I looked hesitant and I looked away from him now, placing my hands in my back pockets now as Richie spoke up.

 

"Can someone tell me what happened back there?" He asked now in a huff.I eyed Stan once more, not only thinking of just happened with Beverly but also what happened with me.I didn't tell the others just yet, and I don't think I could tell them all.Richie, although, was different.I was closer to him than the others, and he knew how I ticked and vice versa. 

 

What was I going to tell him?


	11. What's going on with my friend?

"No, I love being your personal doorman!"

 

"Shut up, Richie!"

 

"Yeah, shut up Richie."

 

"Oh okay, trash the trash-mouth, I get it.Hey, I wasn't the one scrubbing the bathroom floor and imagining that her sink went all Eddie's mom's vagina on Halloween."Richie said to us as he was circling around us on his bikes while we were walking them down the street.We just left Beverly's apartment and we were still reeling from what we saw.I wasn't in the mood to just let them know what I saw just yet, but I had some kind of weird sense that it was connected to what happened with Beverly and how she felt she was the only one seeing it. 

 

Ever since I blew off Richie from telling him what I saw and what happened to me the day before, he could tell something else was wrong with me.It was killing him that I wasn't telling him, but how could I?Richie was more a realist, making jokes left and right.No matter how sincere he was with me I knew he would think I had some kind of crazy in me if I told him about the room with the dead bodies, the water rising to my legs and the clown.

 

"She didn't imagine it," Bill said to us, all of us stopping now as we were looking at Bill who was at the back of the group. He seemed as though he was shaking too now as he was finally telling us what was in his head, "I saw something too."

 

"You saw blood, too?" Stan asked.

 

"Not blood," Bill replied, taking in a shaky breath, "I saw G-G-G-Georgie," We all were quiet know since he spoke of his younger brother. I was looked from Bill over to Richie, seeing he got serious too now as Bill kept going, "It seemed so real.I meant it seemed like him, but there was this…"He trailed off, not finding the right word now as Eddie finally let down the bomb.

 

"A clown," We all looked at him as he was clutching his own handlebars of his bars.He gave a quick look to Bill as he nodded his head, "Yeah, I saw him too."

 

Did he see a clown too?Both Bill and Eddie?How was that possible, I was feeling as though the imagination that I had with that clown was slowly expanding and I was no longer the loner there.Stan nodded his head at Bill and Ben nodded his head slowly as well, looking grim and I realized they saw the clown too.I closed my eyes for a brief moment, seeing the clown in my head in the morgue and I opened my eyes one more time.Richie was looking at me, seeing me almost break there holding my bike.I swallowed, looking at Bill.

 

"I saw the clown too, Bill." I replied to him, seeing his eyes go wide now as the others were looking too, "At the hospital…in the morgue.He was there,"It felt some kind of release that I was saying this to the group since it was no longer myself being the only one who looked crazy.Were we all living the same nightmare?Was the same clown someone who was pulling a prank on us and making us feel terrible about ourselves now?Who was behind all of this?But Richie, of course in his nature, asked the wrong question.

 

"Wait, can virgins only see this stuff?Is that why I'm not seeing this shit?" Richie asked, almost in irrationally since he clearly was the only one who wasn't seeing this clown just yet.No one had the heart to tell him to shut up, but Eddie looked from him over to the side of the road away from us along the grass. 

 

"Oh shit that's Belch Huggin's car," Eddie asked in fear. It was the same blue tooth car from the last day of school. I could hear some commotion below the cliff where the car was parked. "We, we should probably get out of here."

 

"Wait isn't that the homeschooled kid's bike?" He asked, having us all see the bike that was thrown t the floor against the car.I saw the packet in the front of the bike and some of the things sprawled out in front.They were wrapped in meat.I cringed, knowing who it was and who Bill was talking about.I would see this boy ride to from the farm where he lived to deliver the meat that his family produced.

 

"Yeah, that's MIke's…."I cringed.

 

"We have to help him," Beverly said to the group now, looking a bit concerned as I was thinking the same thing.Mike was a nice person that shouldn't be at the mercy of Henry.Henry would see him as a huge target, bigger than the Losers.I then knew it was going to be in a world of hurt now if he was down there and alone with the boys. 

 

"We should?" Richie asked, almost oblivious.I sighed, Beverly and I getting off our bikes and throwing them to the floor.

 

"Yes," We both said at the same time, Bill joining us as we started to jog over to the edge and make our way down.The others were following us slowly as we were hearing more and more of the commotion near the Barrens.I was worried about Mike now, wondering if he was dead yet or if he was about to be since he was alone with Henry and his goons.I was weaving through the trees with Bill and Beverly, the others behind us now as we were getting lower and closer to the Barrens.

 

"Take that Bitch!"

 

"Fucking idiot!"

 

"Oh God!"

 

I got down there first since I was a bit faster now, seeing that on the otherwise of the small creek there was Henry and his goons, but Henry was Hunched over Mike now and holding him down in a death grip.His two goons were watching from the side and egging him one, but the one who wasn't there was Patrick.I could see Mike struggling as he was trying to get up but Henry still had a firm grip on him, not letting him go and having some anger in his eyes.Finally, Henry reached down and grabbed a rock in his hand, about to slam it on Mike's head.

 

He rose the rock above his head and my instinct kicked in once again like it did when I was 12.I didn't want someone to be hurt by Henry.Some kind of force inside me was yelling at me to protect him.This wasn't like it was with Eddie, I knew Eddie.I didn't know Mike as much, but I knew enough to know that he was far too innocent and kind to be hurt by Henry.Hell, anyone would.Without blinking twice, I reached down and grabbed the first rock that was near my foot, reeling back and throwing it on instinct.

 

"No!" Beverly gasped out as it slammed into Henry and he fell back and off of Mike.Mike was shocked, as well as Henry's other two goons as the others who were running behind me finally caught up.I was fuming a bit still when I saw Henry holding the rock over his head to aim at Mike.But now that it wasn't the case anymore, I sighed inwardly as Mike was making his way over to us in the water, stammering on the way.

 

"Nice throw," Stan said to me in a smile with the others behind me.

 

"Thanks," I replied, seeing that Mike was close enough now and I grabbed him, "Here," 

 

"You Losers are trying too hard," Henry said to the group as I was helping Mike to the back of the group and away from the group, "She'll do you, you just have to ask nicely.Like I did."

 

I looked behind me, having me see that he aimed that remark at Beverly now as he grabbed his crotch in front of her.She said nothing now as he then finally turned his attention over to me in the back of the group, his look was a bit more severe and sinister saw as I was shielding Mike with my body at him.I still wasn't afraid of him, not compared to seeing that Clown the day before.Henry was still nothing to me now as he pointed a shaky finger at me, seeing the anger there on his face.

 

"You," He said to me now.Richie instinctively stood near, as did Stan as Henry sneered at me before he spoke to the rest of the group, "You guys are even luckier since you have resident gimp there to please ya."

 

That did it, at least in Richie and Ben's mind.Richie moved down in a flash as Ben gave out some kind of roar from his own belly, throwing the rock in his head and hitting Henry hard in the head.Richie threw next, seeing Belch grabbing his own rock ad Henry doing it too.Before I could figure out what was happening, I grabbed another rock in my hand and threw it at the goons, seeing rocks behind thrown back and forth

 

"ROCK WAR!" 

 

There was no real place I was aiming, only to get the goons to back off as I was also trying to dodge a rock thrown in my direction.I was having left and right, still standing in front of Mike as they were throwing right back at us.Even Eddie jumped in the water in the front, throwing rock after rock with a fierce look on his face.even though they were bigger than us, we had more on our side of the creek as we were pelting them left and right now. 

 

Mike finally got up and threw next to me, aiming right at Henry now and barely missing close to him.Beverly got a good throw in at Belch and got him hard in the head.Finally, after Bill got him hard in the stomach and Henry doubled over, Belch and the other goon ran off since they knew they weren't going to win this rock war we created with them. 

 

No more rocks were thrown since Henry fell to the floor and was clearly defeated.The others that were with him were long gone and left him to be on his own,No one else threw another rock as we all watched to see what he would do.Was he going to throw more?Was he going to charge?I was thinking he was going to do one of those things, but he did nothing.Henry looked more shook than anything as Eddie and Stan helped Mike to go on the trail that would take us back to our bikes.Bill and Beverly followed, Ben right after them as I was walking over to Richie.He was still watching Henry now, fuming behind his coke-bottle glasses and his hands were making fists at his sides.

 

"Come on Richie," I urged as I grabbed his arms and pulled him along with me.Richie walked a few steps before he stopped and faced Henry one more time.

 

"Go blow your dad you mullet wearing asshole!"

 

He flipped him off as he kept walking with me, having me look one more time and see that Henry was still on the floor, amongst the water and rocks, and he was still shell-shocked.I didn't want to look at him anymore, but I gave one more thought as we were walking up the hill to get to the others now.Where I hit the rock on his head and where the blood was pouring, it was the same spot where he slammed his head on the floor after I pushed him.

 

I wounded him again in the same spot.It was some kind of omen.

 

* * *

 

"Thanks, guys, but you shouldn't have done that.He'll be after you guys too now." Mike said to us as we were all walking in a line along the grass to get back to the street. 

 

"Ah no, Bowers?Yeah, he's always after us," Eddie reassured him as he was walking first in the line.

 

"I guess that's one t-t-t-thing we all have in common," Bill added to Mike as he was second in line.

 

"Yeah, Home-school.Welcome to the Loser's Club."

 

The last to in us was Mike Hanlon.

 

* * *

 

That night I was looking at the new cuts that I got from the fight, and though they were pretty intense to look at, I was able to hide them from my mother when we got home from getting Mike back to his barn.It was a cooler evening so my window was wide open and I felt the breeze coming through the house and into my room.I had my implant out and it was resting on my nightstand, having me only hear better out of one ear now.

 

I was still reeling from what we dealt with that afternoon in Beverly's bathroom, helping Mike from almost dying at the hands of a lunatic, and overall talking about how w were all seeing the same thing.

 

That damn clown.

 

"Psst, Molly,"

 

I looked in the mirror behind me to see Richie poking his head into the window now from the darkness of the night.He peered through the window now as he was looking around my room and then locking his eyes on me, " _Can I come in?"_ He signed to me.

 

I slowly nodded, seeing him grin now as he snuck into the room with ease.I walked over to close my door in case my mom was going to walk over from the stairs, looking at Richie now and see a small welt forming on his head from where he was hit by the rock earlier that day. 

 

"Wanted to check in you," He replied to me, having me walk over to him now as he hopped over to sit on the top of my bed, "We haven't talked in a while you know, just you and me."

 

"With all that's going on," I added, sitting next to him on the bed, the both of us sitting in the silence between us.I held my fingers in my lap, not knowing what to say and how to say it with him.He was the one that was better with words, compared to me at least. 

 

"What you said earlier today…about the clown at the hospital. What was that about?" He asked me finally.

 

I stared at him, almost forgetting about it for a moment or so.Richie watched me too, seeing that I was thinking to myself now as to how I was going to tell Richie what I went through.He could see me and he finally took in his own deep breath.

 

"Look, I know something's wrong with you, and you're scared," He explained, having me give him a questioning look, "I know what your face looks like when you're scared.Usually, you're not a scared person, and you are and it's starting to not only scare Stan, but also Eddie and—"

 

"Richie, stop," I stopped him from his rambling now as he stopped.He would go off on a tangent from time to time and someone had to get him to calm down.He took a took breath.

 

"You're scaring me," He explained to me now as I gave him a pondering look, "All I wanna know is what's going on with my friend?"

 

I felt bad that he was pulling that card on me.I knew where he was coming from though, we both would tell each other everything that was bothering us.He was the one that started that, thinking that if we told things to each other that it would make us better in some way.He would tell me about his feelings about not being funny enough, and I would talk to him about still having those shy moments from time to time.

 

How was this moment in my life different from then on out?

 

"You'd think I'm crazy," I tried to remind him, but he shook his head in a fast rate now.

 

"I don't think you're crazy," He reassured me, having me remind myself that this was my friend.My first friend, someone who would make me so beyond normal compared to the others there in our group.I finally gave in and recapped him with all that happened to me.

 

I told him everything.


	12. What Is That?!?!

The next several days were just of us trying to direct all that happened to us that day, from dealing with Beverly's bathroom to saving Mike from the clutches of Henry and his goons.Mike was now a new member of our group of 8, and it felt like as we were complete with him now in our circle.He was very kind, showing us our farm once or twice where he lived with his family and grandfather as his main provider.We were glad to have him in our group.Even Richie made a comment about the group of 8 of us being together as a group while we were getting ice cream one afternoon right when July was around the corner.

 

"It's such a complete number!No more and no less!"

 

So we stayed at 8.

 

With the heat coming over Derry and the days seeming so long unbearable, we were finding ways to both cool off and stray from any sign fo Henry and his two friends.Speaking of the two goons, I noticed on one of the LOST signs when I was riding my bike with Ben and Richie his face against one of the walls on our way over to meet with the others near the Arcade.I stopped on my bike, the others stopping as well to see what I was looking at as I saw Patrick's face there on the wall. I cringed a bit, remembering what he did to me some years before when I was still a bit more in my vulnerable state.

 

_"Nice Rack."_

 

"He's missing too," Ben said to me as he was looking behind me at the sign.I didn't know whether or not I should feel sad about Patrick being missing, or the fact that another person was going missing in general, but it was a sinking feeling none the less.

 

"Good riddance," Richie said under his breath, having me look over at him now and see some hate there on his face.I knew he didn't forget what Patrick said to me and how it made me so sad.He was there when I was crying and when I ran into the bathroom.But there was still an uneasiness that was coming over me now as I looked back at the poster now.I said the one thing that was turning in my head over and over.

 

"I guess no one's safe," 

 

Ben and Richie said nothing now as I was looking down at my feet.It was chilling to think any child could be the next one that could get lost, and yet they were all happening one on top of the other.But the worst part of it was, and it may have been me at that moment, but someone about the adults and how they were dealing with the disappearances was chilling enough.

 

When did the adults stop caring?

 

* * *

 

4th of July came through, and with a small parade coming through the downtown area, the Losers were all watching from the side of the street.I went in to get a cone with Eddie at the ice cream shop to beat the heat and get one for Richie, who found himself taking one of the baritones from a marching band kid to try and play it.It was almost comical, to say the least as I was waiting with Eddie to get our three ice creams.The others were by the alleyway outside the ice cream parlor.

 

"Three vanillas please," Eddie said to the server as we were standing there together, tapping his fanny pack there on his hip.I looked too, seeing that it was rather big compared to other times that he would wear his fanny pack.

 

"You have new stuff in your pack, Eddie?" I asked him now, seeing him look down at his pack now and nodding nervously.

 

"Oh, yeah.Some new medication my mom got for me," He replied without a hitch.I watched him in hesitance now, since I knew the last few times I would hear about his mother in a conversation, even with Richie involved, it seemed as though she was getting more and more intense about her son.Now I wasn't going to say anything about it, but something felt off with Eddie getting new medication or being hesitant about talking about made me wonder what was going on. 

 

"What kind of medication is it, Eddie?" I asked him, not wanting to overstep my boundary with it but I was really wondering.He never told us what they were of what they did to him, he was more hesitant about them than anything.Even Bill didn't know, and Bill was closer to Eddie than anyone else in our group.

 

"They just….you know…" He stammered thinking about toad trying to tell me something that would sound fine, but the way he was looking and thinking about was enough to tell me that something as up and wrong, that or Eddie was getting flustered.

 

"They keep me healthy," He replied in a stammer, pushing the money on the counter for the server to take as he took one of the ice cream cones that were ready.

 

"Sorry, Eddie," I apologized to him now as I could see that I maybe overstepped the boundary there with my friend. He saw the look I was giving him and he sighed too as I took my own ice cream.

 

"It's fine," He reassured me as we were walking over to the door, "You know my mom. Sometimes sheworries about me too much every once in a while."He shook it off, going back to his normal self.I was still worried about him, but it felt like it would be too much to ask him any more about it as I helped open the door for him to walk through, "Plus these kids going missing doesn't help does it?"

 

"You got that right," I replied to him, "I surprised that your mother hasn't placed you on house arrest just yet."

 

"Me too, I'm still thinking that it's gonna come sooner than later, " he grumbled as we walked out the door and over to the group that was still in the alleyway.When we saw them, they all looked grim as Bill was looking at the brand new LOST poster of a young man.I cringed, I knew that boy from school.

 

"What are you guys talking about?" Eddie asked as Richie walked up.Eddie handed him his ice cream.

 

"What they always talk about," Richie replied to him.

 

"I actually think it will end," Ben said to the group now as he was thinking about it, "For a little while, at least."

 

"What do you mean?" Beverly asked him.

 

"So I was going over all of my Derry research, and I charted out all of the big events.The Ironworks Explosion in 1908, The Bradley Gang in '35, and The Black Spot in '62, and now kids being…" He stopped, though we all knew what he meant, "I realized, that all this stuff seem to happen every—"

 

"27 years."

* * *

 

 

"Okay, so let me get this straight, it comes out for like a year to eat kids and then what, it just goes into hibernation?" Eddie asked as we were all now sitting out in one of the pavilions in the middle of the park where the barbecue for the 4th of July was being held.Ben told us a key piece of information and we were still hammering out what we precisely saw and what it meant.

 

"Maybe it's like…what do you call it…Cicadas.You know, the bugs that come out once every 17 years," Stan suggested as he was sitting on the backrest of the bench.Mike was sitting next to him and I was on his other side with Ben now.

 

"My Grandfather thinks this town is cursed.He said that all the bad things that happened in this town is because of one thing.An evil thing that feeds off the people in Derry." He explained to us as he was rethinking it all.

 

"But it can't be one thing," Stan said to the group now, "We all saw something different."

 

"Maybe.Or maybe it knows what scares us the most and that's what we see," Mike countered back from his spot, looking ahead.

 

"I-I saw a Leper," Eddie told Mike as he stood next to Bill, "He was like a walking infection."

 

"I saw those dead skeletons in the morgue," I added to the confession, the others looking at me, "They were trying to get out of those coffins…they sounded like they were being burned alive."I could see them in my head all over again, hearing the banging against the steel doors and smelling the rotting flesh, along with the hands reaching out in agony. I reached up to tap my implant on instinct, hating my habit that I had when it came to my fears and my implant.  

 

"But you didn't, neither one of you did," Stan told Eddie and me, I stopped my tapping now since he kept talking,"Because IT isn't real.None of this is.Not Eddie's Leper, or Bill being Georgie. Molly's burning skeletons, or the woman I keep seeing,"

 

"Is she hot?" Richie asked out of the blue, all of us looking at him now as if it was some kind of sick joke.

 

"No Richie!She's not hot!" Stan spat back at him now as he thought back to what he experiences himself, "Her face is all messed up.None of this makes any sense, they're like bad dreams!"

 

"I don't think so, I know the difference between a bad dream and real life okay?" Mike said to him now, already getting worked up about it as I faced him some more.

 

"What did you see?You saw something too?" I asked.

 

"Yes. You guys know that burnt down house on Harris Avenue?I was inside when it burned down.Before I was rescued, my mom and dad were trapped in the next room over from me.They were pushing and pounding on the door, trying to get to me.But it was too hot.When the firefighters found them…the kind of their hands melted to the bone," I reached over to touch his arm in hopes that he would both stop from his confession and feel some kind of empathy from me.I could hear and feel the pain in him, not to mention see it on his face now as he paused for a moment.

 

"We're all afraid of something," he told the group.

 

"You got that right," Richie said in a grumble now as he looked behind the group at the small stage towards the edge of the park. 

 

"Why Rich?What are you afraid of?"

 

"Clowns."

* * *

 

 

The next plan that we were going to come up with was seeing where we can locate this being, whatever it was.Bill volunteered his house and garage with an old projector, Ben grabbed from images from the library of Old Derry and the schematics of the town to help out.Once we got to the garage and got the door down with the windows covered, we finally got underway with figuring out what to do next in our plan to stop this being.

 

The light of the projector went on, seeing the maps that Bill clipped on the wall being illuminated on the small picture Ben brought in.It was the map of the Derry Sewer System, which looked intense from my own angel as I was sitting in the back with Mike.It had long lines that seemed to show kind of waterway from all over the town with the street names there too.I noticed for a split second in one of the corners of the street, there was a small mark and in Bill's handwriting that said, "Storm Drain."

 

The new projection showed the old map of Derry, with the rivers matching up on the wall and the streets matching too with the sewer system lines.Bill was getting the image focused as we were all sitting around the projector and we saw Bill pointing to the map now.

 

"Look, that's where G-G-G-Georgie disappeared," Bill explained, pointing to the mark there on the wall now, "There's the ironworks, and the Black Spot."We all looked to see where he was pointing and we all noticed the same thing the Bill spoke, "Everywhere IT happens, i-i-it's all connected by the sewers and they all meet up at—"

 

"The Well House," Ben said finally, having all of us see what he was seeing.He was right, the long red lines that were part of the sewers were all meeting at the one spot on the map that was marked Well House.My eyes were getting big from the sudden discovery since I knew that street.

 

"The House on Niebolt street?" I asked in a grave tone.

 

"You mean that creepy-ass house where all the junkies and hobos like to sleep?" Richie asked next to me.I saw Eddie hunch over, taking a breath from his inhaler.

 

"I hate that place.Always feels like it's watching me," Beverly said in her own low tone,Eddie at this point was gasping for air now.Richie and I were watching him now in concern

 

"That's where I saw it," He said in his gasping breath, "That's where I saw the clown."

 

"Tha-tha-tha-that's where it lives," Bill said in realization now.

 

"I can't imagine anything ever wanting to live there," Stan said on my other side now as Eddie shot up and stood in front of the projector, his body illuminated with the old map of Derry and his face was beyond terrified.

 

"Can we stop talking about this?I can barely breathe!" He was shouting and gasping at the same time and almost getting red in the face with his eyes getting too big, "It's summer…..We're kids, I can barely breathe and I'm having a fucking asthma attack and I am not doing this!"He finally was out of breath, turning around and tearing down the map on the wall.

 

"What the hell!" Bill argued, "Put the map back!"Eddie shook his head in defiance when I noticed the projector was going to another slide, going blank on Eddie now, and going again.I stood up now, slowly and watching the projector as Bill's hand was nowhere near the button to click to the next slide. 

 

"Bill?" I asked, seeing him look at me first and then look at the projector in front of him, seeing the same thing. The first picture that came up was of long Georgie and his dad after a baseball game.

 

"What happened?" Bill asked, looking at his projector now as it was still going without him controlling it.The images were going faster of past trips and vacations that the family went on, but it was starting to get scary as Mike and Beverly too looked to see how to stop the images.But one image stayed on repeatedly with the fast clicks of the projection.

 

It was a picture of the family outside of a church, all four of them and Georgie having a big smile plastered on his face as the picture was just on him fully.His smile was far too big and too innocent now as the lights were now flickering and the image slowly went to the woman with flowing red hair.It was showing it faster and faster, and the hair was moving all the way in front of her face and now showing a painted white face, a crooked red smile and red eyes.

 

The Clown.

 

"What the fuck is that!" We all shot up from seeing it in front of us and we all shot to the back of the room.I instinctively moved to the side next to Stan now as Richie was clutching Eddie and screaming, "What is that?!"

 

"I don't fucking know!"Eddie screamed as the clown was now on the picture and staring at the group fo us.Bill was frozen, looking at the screen now as I was slowly trying to grab something being name just to hold it.It was just liking being in the morgue again with him looking at me in a sinister way like he was ready to kill me.This was the same thing all over again, and this time we were all seeing the same thing and none of us were imagining it.

 

This was real.

 

"Turn it off!" Beverly said to Bill now as she too was looking at the screen, then she started screaming at Bill to turn it off as I was slamming my eyes shut.I didn't want to see the clown anymore, hearing the projector slam to a floor.I opened, seeing the light go to the wall on the right near Stan and I.There was nothing on there now, the images that Ben brought and the old family pictures of Bill's were all over the floor. 

 

The projector turned again, having me stand behind Stan now as the first image we saw was of a blurry clown like we caught him in mid-movement.I gasped as another image came up, the clown moving closer to Stan and I as I cringed and without thinking I grabbed Stan's hand.The others were frozen, watching too as the third image came up and the clown as even close to us in the picture.But something happened in the fourth picture.

 

He was gone.

 

Stan and I were frozen now, still attached to each other as the room went dark for a moment before it turned back on.But now the clown was real and out of the picture.It was freightening, a loud growl was heard from him along with the others shouting in fear.He was peering down and both Stan and myself, five rows of teeth were bared and his eyes were huge and wide.We all screamed as the clown was about to eat us.

 

"Run Molly!Run Stanley!" We both ran over to the group now as they were darting to the garage door, trying to get it open.Another flash, the clown now crawling over us at a fast pace as Richie grabbed me and held me close.I did the same, thinking for a split second we were going to die at that moment to the stupid clown.I dug my head into Richie's shoulder as the screaming out louder.

 

But suddenly, the lights were back on, and there was silence. 

 

I looked up from holding Richie, seeing that the door was thrown open and no one was moving. 

 

"You okay?" he asked me, his eyes were wide and almost looking like they too were filled with fear.I nodded, seeing that we were still wrapped in each other and not moving.We all saw that clown, I knew we all saw that for certain.There was no tiptoeing around it now because we were all on the same page: that thing was a clown and it wanted to kill us all. 

 

I moved away from Richie slowly and I was still shaking from what I saw.I looked at the others, seeing them think about it too.We were all gasping for air, Mike holding his arm almost in pain now.Beverly was cowering against the door now, moving her hands from her eyes and then she walked over to Ben.Ben had the door pushed up, Beverly touching his arm in affection.

 

"Thanks, Ben," She said to him as she moved from him to Bill, giving him a hug. 

 

"It-It saw us," Eddie said in fear as we were all standing near the opening of the garage, "It saw us and It knows where we are!"

 

"It always knew," Bill said to him as he walked out to the sidewalk now in front of us, "So l-l-l-let's go."

 

"Go?"Ben asked, "Go where?"

 

"To Niebolt," We all froze when he said that, looking at him as if he was beyond crazy, ‘That's where G-G-G-Gerogie is."

 

"After that?" Stan asked in shock now.

 

"Yeah," Richie said in agreement, "It's summer.We should be outside—"

 

"If you say its summer one more f-f-f-f-fucking time!" Bill said in frustration now as clearly we were thinking what he was thinking.I could see the pain on his face now as I took a step forward now to him, almost trying not to spook him myself.He looked over at me, seeing my easiness with him.I knew he wanted his brother so bad, we talked about a month after Georgie disappeared.he was so desperate to get his brother back and I told him we would find him. 

 

"Bill," I said to him calmly now though my voice was still shaking, "We don't know if he's there for sure."I had to be reasonable with him, really reasonable.But of course, he wasn't hearing it, not with what he was thinking as he then walked over to grab his bike.He swung his leg over before we could even stop him.

 

"Bill!Wait!" Beverly called out in desperation.But it was too late. 

 

Bill was going to Niebolt House


	13. Chapter 13

I never thought I would petal so hard in my life with the others right on my tail.I was trying to remember how to get to the haunted house from where we were at Bill's house, and he sped off so fast that I wasn't able to catch up with him on my own bike.He was off so quick, and it made me worry that he as going to do something beyond stupid even almost suicidal because he had the emotion that his brother as going to be there, all because of that stupid clown

 

IT

 

I turned the corner with Beverly right on my other side now as we sped down Neibolt street, seeing the house coming closer and closer now on our right and a bike already in the middle of the sidewalk.It was Bill's bike, and as we get close we noticed that he was about to go into the house.I was worried for my friend, and I could tell the others were worried too now as we got close enough for Beverly to call out.

 

"Bill!" She said to him in a desperate tone, all of us hoping off our bikes and leaving them on the street there.I looked up at the house he was about to walk into, the dark wood that looked beyond old was creaking already in the stillness of the sun and with no wind around.The dead grass in front of the house with a few sunflowers towering over the top of our heads was enough for me to get more chills along my skin, even in the heat.I felt a bad presence in the house as we all stood there in front of Bill.

 

"Bill, you can't go in there," Beverly said to him, "This is crazy."

 

"Look, you don't have to come in with me, but what happens when another Georgie goes missing?Or another Betty, or another Ed Corcoran or one of us?"Bill asked us now, his voice now big and feeling bold now as we all stood there and listened, "Are you just going to pretend it didn't happen like everyone else in this town?Because I can't.I got home and all I see is that Georgie isn't there, his clothes, his toys, his stupid animals.But he isn't.So walking into this house for me…it's easier than walking into my own," He stopped, feeling a bit out of breath from saying all of that.He finally wiped a tear with his sleeve and turned around to walk onto the porch without looking back at us.

 

"Wow," Richie said.

 

"What?"

 

"He didn't stutter once," I looked at Richie, seeing him watch his friend.It was true, there was not one stutter in Bill's voice when he told us all of that about his brother, having me watch as Richie was slowly walking over to join him.The others, including myself, were doing the same since we felt like he couldn't leave Bill on his own now. 

 

"Wait!"He all froze, seeing Stan there next to myself and Mike and looking petrified himself as he spoke up again, "Umm..shouldn't we have someone keep watch?You know just…just in case something bad happens?"

 

We all looked at each other and then at Bill, seeing his hand was already on the door handle.He thought about it before he shrugged his shoulders.

 

"W-W-W-Who wants to stay out there?" He asked us, almost all of us shooting out hands out n the air.I did the same, not wanting to have another moment where I thought I was going to die.The only one who didn't raise their hand was Beverly, and Richie looked almost sorrowful now as he looked back at Bill.

 

"Fuck,"

* * *

 

 

The rest of us watched as Richie and Eddie followed Bill inside the house and the door closing behind them.I was looking up at the house and seeing all of the broken windows, how it almost seemed so crocked and on its side barely and that cold sensation I was getting over and over down my spine and under my skin. 

 

There was something terrible about this place, I knew that, and yet three of my friends walked inside to chase some kind of notion that Georgie and the clown were inside.I didn't feel brave enough to go in there with them, which felt bad since I didn't want any of them to be hurt or get killed by any force that could be in there.

 

A few more minutes went by as we stood still.Something moved from the corner of my eye along the backside of the house, having me look over and see a flicker of the movement against the tall weeds.Like someone just ran behind the house and tried not to be seen.It confused me as we were standing out there.

 

"We should….look around the house and make sure nothing…you know…" Stan said in a stammer as he was looking at the group of us still out there in front of the porch.Mike nodded his head.

 

"Sure, I can take this side," He suggested, pointing to the right side.

 

"I'll take the right side," Ben said too as I saw Beverly and I looking at each other.

 

"We can take the backside," I said to the both about Beverly and I.We all started to move to those areas now with the sun beating down our backs and the house creaking.Beverly and I walked over to the right side and towards the back of the house, having me see as though the house grew a set of eyes and was watching me in interest now.I didn't want to look at the house now as we were slowly walking to the back now.All that we could see was tall weeds and brown dead grass around us and almost reaching our calves.

 

"What are they going to find inside?" I asked her now in a quiver as we were looking all over the place.There was a small shed against the fence that also looked abandoned and dead in the woods and roots, a few patches of grasses and dead flowers, and a crooked fence that was lined with ivy.Literally, there was nothing.But I heard a murmur then, knowing that it wasn't Beverly now.

 

"I don't know, but I don't like it," She replied back to me as we were still walking shoulder to shoulder now.I heard the murmur again now, but it was coming now right behind me where the house and I paused for a brief moment.

 

_"Molly….oh Molly…."_

 

It almost sounded like a creak of wood, but it was a low tone of voice.I took a step, hearing the cracking what could be roots underneath my feet from a dead tree.I stayed still, feeling another wave of fear coming through me now as I was looking dead ahead and not wanting to move.That voice for some reason was making me paralyzed and unable to move now as the roots were still crackling under my shoes and I moved to touch my implant with my fingers to do the nervous tick once more.

 

"Molly?" Beverly asked me, seeing how still I got and how I wasn't moving in an inch.That voice was making me nervous, sounding both sinister and dead at the same time.I looked over at her now as my hand was tapping my implant over and over.It had to be in my had, this was all in my head.It was all on our head because of this one closer that wanted to taunt and kill us.There was a time to be practical and it had to be now since I was trying to calm down and breathe. 

 

Something then moved underneath my foot, having me look down and Beverly as well.The roots that were underneath my feet were now wrapped around my ankles well and hard.My eyes went wide, not feeling them go around my ankles when I was freaking out and having a moment of panic. I shot a look at Beverly as I then gulped.

 

"Oh, shit—" I didn't finish because the roots around my ankles yanked hard, having me fall to the floor and my implant fell out by the force.My head hit the ground and there was a rock that slammed against my eyebrow as I grunted in pain, wonder what it was that got me to the floor within a moment.But then I was being pulled at a fast rate, away from Beverly along the floor now as I was screaming. 

 

"Beverly!" I screamed at her, trying to reach for anything grounded on the dead floor to stop me from being pulled, but it was too fast for me to grab.Beverly was running after me and looking panicked.

 

"Molly!Hang on Molly!" She said to me in a yell as I was looking behind me to see where the roots were pulling me.I was still going along the surface of the grass, but I was afraid fo where I was going to end up at as I finally felt my legs dip down and I clung onto the edge of what seemed to be a large hole.The roots were still holding onto me, no longer pulling as I was dangling against a hole that was in the ground.

 

I was dangling and barely holding on.

 

"Hold on, I'm coming!" Beverly said to me as she finally caught up with me and grabbed my arms from falling into the hole anymore.I was shaking, almost on the brink of tears now as she was about to pull me up when it was no longer roots that I was feeling around my ankles, but hands. Gloves. 

 

I looked down and saw in horror that they were a pair of white gloves, belonging to the hands of that clown.

 

He was grinning at me now as that wasn't the only thing that was in the hole.The clown was waist down in what looked like tar, black liquid, and goo that had me look in horror as Beverly saw the same thing.I then know what this guy was about to do, not only have me be away from my friends and kill me but drown me in the process.He knew my fear of drowning and he was going to kill me that way. 

 

"Hello, Molly!" He said in a sneer now as he finally gave me a pull.I cringed, feeling him tug me down as Beverly was still holding onto me for dear life.I dug my fingers into the earth and tried to hold on as hard as I could, "Come float with me!There's no need to swim where you're goin'."

 

"Mike, Ben, HELP ME!" Beverly yelled out in desperation now as she was still grabbing onto me and almost slipping from her own grip.His hold on my legs was leaving indent for certain, I could feel the bruises seeing into my skin now on how he was holding me and trapping me.I looked down at the goo once more, feeling some of it hit my skin and I cringed.I didn't want to die like this, not at the hands of some maniac being.I didn't want to at least give him some courage and try to get my way of out it.

 

I finally looked up and saw the rest of the group run out to Beverly, all of them sliding on their knees to grab a piece of my shirt and arm to make sure that I wasn't going to fall.The clown gave another tug as the others still held on, though I felt myself slip a bit more against the edge.

 

"Don't let her go!" Stan said in desperation now as Mike grabbed a nearby rock within his one spare hand.  He aimed it high, almost like Henry did with him mere weeks before, and threw it down at Clown.It slammed against the head, having me hear him roar and let go of one of my ankles and scratch it in the process.I screamed from the scratch and feel one of my legs being freed, finally getting one of my legs to work once more.Mike grabbed me again as I looked down at the scene. 

 

My leg was bleeding out, bruises were all over my ankles there and the Clown looked at me in rage.Before he could grab my ankle again, I reared my heel up hard and slammed it against his head.He released me in a howl, falling back into the tar pit and I was finally free. 

 

"Pull her up!" Ben said in a frantic tone as the four of them were pulling me up finally.I was too frazzled by what happened when I finally was on the ground against the hole, I closed my eyes and covered them with my hands.I was in so much pain and fear from what happened as I was just weeping there on the ground and trying so hard not to scream out in agony.There was nothing touching me for a moment or two before I felt a gentle hand on my shoulder.I shot up in an instant looking over at whoever it was touching me as I flinched from who it was.

 

"It's me!It's me!" Stan reassured me over and over, having me look at the others.They were sitting next to me and around me, looking at me in worry now since I was both hyperventilating and sobbing at the same time from almost dying from a goddamn clown.He placed his hand on my shoulder again now, looking so scared for me as I finally sobbed once more.Stan immediately pulled me into his arms now as I was crying against his body and trying to calm myself down.Beverly rubbed my back as Mike and Ben stood protectively by in case something else happened.

 

"You're okay," Stan said to me over and over now as I was no longer crying but shaking.It was all too much, way too much now as I was trying to calm myself down.I was never that close to dying before, not since I was 4 years old, but this was different.This time someone really wanted me dead, something was more like it, but none the less it was nothing close to being normal. 

 

"Come on, Molly," Beverly said to me as she placed her hands on my shoulders to help me up.Stan wrapped his arms around me now and helps me to my feet, having me grunt in pain now my ankles were so tender and my deep scratch on both my head and leg was stinging.I got up fully, shaking at my hands as I looked at the four of them.Beverly gave me my falling implant, having me take it and see a hint of damage along the device before I placed it back in my ear gently. 

 

"T-Thanks," I said to them, seeing them all give me a small nod.

 

"We stick together," Ben reminded me in confidence now, though he seemed out of breath himself from the whole ordeal.I gave him a small attempt of a smile since I was still shaking and my arms were feeling like jello from the constant pulling and tugging against the earth.There was a sudden crash that was heard at the house, having all of us look now as we felt the worse that was about to happen.Our other threes friends were still in there.

 

"Bill," Beverly said in a gasp as she started to run to the back of the house.Mike and Ben were right behind me, Stan staying next to me now as I was attempting to run with my busted leg. It was more like a hobble now as we were rounding the corner to the back porch and seeing Beverly already in front of us, grabbing an old iron post that was rusting on the ground and running inside.When I reached the porch with the others already inside, I heard Beverly scream and something being stabbed.

 

Stan and I got in, just in time for seeing Beverly release the iron post in her hand.But it was now lodged through the head of the clown, seeing him freeze before he could snatch Richie and Bill who were standing in the middle of the kitchen and looking petrifiedI froze too, thinking that heard the noise and came just in time as I heard Eddie wheezing from the otherwise of the room.I looked seeing him on the floor now and cradling his arm that seemed to be broken.

 

"Eddie!" I said in fear, hobbling over to him now as he was about to be in tears.I kneeled down in pain since I was moving my leg now and feeling more blood come out, checking her face now as Richie and Bill did the same.The others were watching from the side with Richie, Bill and Beverly now running over to see Eddie,We all looked at him for a brief second now as he finally scared out, seeing the clown looking back at us with the bar still through his head. 

 

I clutched Eddie's shirt, the others cowering in fear as the clown was taking staggering steps over to us now, the bar still showing the damage Beverly gave him and the five rows of teeth back on his mouth.We were all scramming at someone to kill it, even Bill, but we were all petrified.Claws like razors were popping out from his hit gloves to show some animalistic hands, almost reptile like.But within an instant, he moved to the left and slashed Ben in the stomach, Ben falling into Mike's grasp and then the clown was staggering out of the room. 

 

"Don't let him get away!" Bill said fear was the clown was stalking away slowly.No one else was moving since we were all too scared to even go after it, but Bill strides after the clown and out of the room.Beverly was cowering against the wall, Richie was crowding both Eddie and myself as Mike was still holding One up straight with Stan trying to help them.We were all powerless then, seeing too much of this goddamn clown and not wanting any more to do with it.

 

"BILL!" Eddie screamed for his friend now as Richie was trying to calm him down.Bill finally returned as Richie was finally getting him to focus.but I was hearing too many things at once now as I was trying to figure out what was going on.

 

But Richie then snapped Eddie' arm back in place.

* * *

 

 

"You, you did this!You know how delicate he is!" Eddie's mother was looking at all of us now with a mean look on her face and her finger jabbing at all of us now as we were standing there in front of his car.I was watching in sadness as Eddie was cowering from the tone that his mother was giving to us.She then looked walked Eddie over by the nape of his neck within his meaty fingers to her small car, Eddie getting in the front seat as she was dishing out her keys.

 

"We were attacked, Mrs. K!" Richie tried to explain, but Eddie's mother wasn't having it.She then looked around her shoulder to see me next to Richie, looking down at my legs.Her eyes went wide now as she saw the big bruises on my ankles and a huge scratch on my calf.

 

"Molly," She said in almost a shocked tone, the others looking too as I did the same.Now, this was looking very bad now, having me breathe out a shaky breath and look up to explain to her.But she stopped, pointing to her car now in the backseat, "Get in the car, Molly.I'll take you to your mom.She's the only sensible one I can take Eddie to."

 

"Mrs. Kaspbrack—" I tried to say, but she shook her head.

 

"Now, before you get in more trouble!" She ordered, having me cringe.I was no longer up to trying to fight, not since I was over going after some kind of hunt against something that wanted to kill me.It made me look at Eddie through the mirror of his car, seeing him watch me now as he was silently telling me to listen to his mother.I didn't want to get in trouble anymore, it wasn't worth it since now I was having maths bruises on my legs and a massive cut.I started to walk over to the back of the car, feeling Richie trying to pull at me to stop.

 

"Molly, wait," He said, but I moved my hand from his grasp as I opened the door and climbed in.She closed the door behind me and dropped her keys on the floor.Beverly reached down to grab them but Eddie's mother grabbed them before her, saying something low to her that I couldn't hear.I was resting my back against the backrest and looking out the opposite window, another tear going down my eye now as Eddie's mother got into the car and started it.

 

I didn't have the energy to look out at them as we were driving away from the group now, my tears were coming back down my face now as I was resurfacing all of those fear I had a moment ago.This was about to be too much when I was close enough to die.Was it all worth it?The last pair of eyes that I saw was Richie's seeing how big and sad they were when he saw me drive away.

 

I was still asking that as I was driving down the street in the back of Eddie's car to the hospital. 


	14. What's Going to Happen to Us?

"Can I go see him?" 

 

"I don't know honey."

 

"Mom…please."

 

My mom looked down at my legs once more, seeing that I was still in my own hospital outfit with my underwear on underneath and my hair smoothed back in a ponytail.She was hesitant, and I didn't blame her since I was brought into the hospital waiting room in tow with Eddie and his berated mother.She was shocked to see me there, more shocked to see the damage on my legs.But she didn't say anything too much about it, not in front of Eddie' mom at least who was hysterical about her son and his broken arm.After she got him squared away too see a doctor, she gave me a look. I knew that look.

 

I was in trouble for sure.

 

It was one thing to get hurt on your own or with your friends, but it was another to be brought in by one of the toughest and craziest moms in the town.It was already raising alarm bells in her own head now as she escorted me to another room to look at the damage herself.I was already thinking of lies to tell her since telling her a demonic clown was trying to kill myself, my friends, and all the kids in town were not going to fly.How could she believe that herself now?It was hard to think of a lie to her since she could really read me compared to the others in my life.

 

But I did lie.I told her I fell off one of the slopes near the Barrens.

 

She bought it, but with most reluctance and uneasiness now.It didn't feel the same without the others there to back me, in fact, it felt rather lonely since I left with Eddie in his car.No one was rushing after me there in the hospital or even that first night.I wondered what happened after we left, what the others did. 

 

Two days of being in the hospital and I was desperate to find Eddie.His mother made him quarantined in his room, almost having some kind of sick feeling that I had something to do with his arm breaking.Compared to the others, I was the one who she liked the best since my mother was a nurse and I was kind fo her.But still, I felt the tension with her as I finally found out where the room was.Apparently that day I wanted to see him his mother was out for the day at church, praying for his fragile soul and then taking him home the next day.

 

"Only for a little bit," My mother finally caved, having me give her a small smile.There was a rather large stitch on my leg where the cut was, my mother's work of course since she knew how to do it with ease.I walked with my small limp, a gauze over my leg now as I was about to head down the hallway.

 

"Molly?" My mom called to me, having me look back at her from her spot in my room where I was staying, "No more secrets.Please."

 

I said nothing since there was nothing else to say.I knew she knew I was laying about what happened and yet she was still letting me off with being grounded for two weeks and helping her at the hospital every once in a while as punishment.I had I deserved it since she was the last person I would ever want to hurt or betray.She what she was saying was enough for me to give in, having me nod at her now and then walk out down the hallway.Dealing with all of this was a lot harder than I thought it was going to be, and it made me wonder if it was all worth it in the end.

 

I pushed open the door slowly into his room after finding it.He was propped up on his bed, his thick cast wrapped around his arm was resting on a pillow on his lap as his head was against the bed on his own pillow.I closed the door behind me now as he heard me walk in, a small smile was on his lips when he saw me there and heard the door click shut.

 

"Hey, Eddie," I replied, walking over with my limp as he grinned a bit bigger.It was good to see him smiling again as if none of this ever happened and we were just hanging out together.

 

"Hey, Molly," He said in relief, "How're your legs?"

 

"I can live with them.I have a big stitch on my leg here," I explained, showing him my stitch and see him almost look green from the sight as I looked and pointed to his arm, "How long do you need to wear it?"

 

"A few weeks, maybe a month or so," He explained as I limped over to one of the bigger chairs next to him, plopping down to watch him in the chair, "My mom's convinced that I'm gonna wear it for months and months, since I'm delicate and all."He rolled his eyes and looked at the ceiling now, thinking to himself, "I'm not that delicate."

 

"You did break your arm," I reasoned, but he shook his head and in frustration looked at the wall.

 

"My mom's been telling me I'm delicate since I was little, even before I met you and the guys," He explained, his voice sounded hard and almost in pain, "But I don't feel delicate….at least you guys don't make me feel delicate."I gave him a small smile now as he shook his head and finally looked over at me now with a worried look.

 

"That clown…" he paused, thinking about the clown for a mere moment before he kept talking, "It's not going to stop, is it?"I thought about it for a moment or so, not knowing what to tell him.He was petrified of that clown, as we all were.But I could tell Eddie was losing some sense of himself when he was there in the house.He took in his own deep breath before he spoke between us.

 

"That thing was about to kill me…but Bill and Richie stopped him before he could," He explained, having me watch him look down at his thick cast now and almost grimace from seeing it there attached to his body, "We all could have died, you know?"

 

"Yeah, I replied, slowly getting up from my spot and then hopping on the bed now, sitting next to his body, "The clown tried to drag me into a hole and drown me,"Eddie's eyes went wide as I said that to him, watching now I was replaying it in my head.I could feel those hands around me on my legs and try to pull me under the tar that was there, hearing that chuckle below me and that voice in the back of my ears. 

 

"It tried to do that?" He asked, still getting it wrapped around his own head now as I slowly nodded.

 

"Beverly saved me, so did Stan, Ben, and Mike," I replied to him softly, the both of us sitting there in the room now and hearing nothing but the heartbeat from Eddie on the monitor.I was worried that we weren't going to be together like that anymore, not since we were in that house and we were all almost killed. 

 

"What's going to happen to us?" Eddie asked me now, having me cringe at the thought of once again being helpless and not able to defend myself.Not without the Losers with me, it felt like it at least.I didn't know what to tell him, but I could see he too was still thinking about it himself now as I felt the aching pain of the cut on my leg.It was throbbing just thinking about the house again and all that happened, almost a sign for me. 

 

"I don't know, Eddie."

 

That night I finally got released to go home.My mother was going to get me home and make sure I was okay before she was going to go back on her regular shift at the hospital again.She didn't know about my talk with Eddie and was we indeed talk about, but it felt off that it was only Eddie that I talked to.I didn't know about the others and how they were doing since we left the house.

 

I watched her from the front window as she drove off and I sighed, walking back into the living room and seeing the TV set and ready to watch.I needed to turn my mind off from all that happened to me and what I saw, and since I was grounded there was nowhere else that I could go to be fair. 

 

It was a few weeks of silence and of nothingness.

 

* * *

 

The day after I came home from the hospital, I had the same few taps on the window that I have heard before.

 

I was about to fall asleep with my leg propped up on my other pillows on my bed.It was late into the night, having me already be half tired from what happened and wondering if my now mother was going to wake up from hearing the tap on my window.But I knew who it was, I knew those taps on my window from plenty of late run-ins in the past.However, I didn't know if I really wanted to talk with him or anything of that nature.He tapped again, having me cringe within and remember who I was dealing with.He wasn't going to stop unless either he was caught, or if I yelled at him.

 

Which was I going to do?

 

I gave in, signing _Come In_ at him slowly and still facing away from him.My pillow was too far away from seeing the mirror so the I could see him open the window softly and crawl through with ease.But this time it wasn't like before when he would rush in without being heard, this time he would be very careful and almost be cat-like. It was the first sign of something serious was about to happen with the both of us as he then closed the window behind him and walked over the carpet to the side of my bed.

 

"Molly?" He asked, his voice sounding very soft and almost like he was going to be on the brink of tears.Slowly I looked over my shoulder at him, finally seeing what his face looked like and I felt terrible.Richie's face was pale, almost too pale and there were tired marks under his eyes.His air was a mess, compared to other times when they were in front of his glasses and eyes on purpose, this time it seemed like he hasn't combed his fingers through in some kind of attempt to tame his locks. 

 

"Hey," I said to him, thinking of nothing else to tell him now since I haven't seen him in a day or so. He gave me a bad attempt of a smile, but I saw his eyes slowly moving to where my injured leg was.I watched him too, not moving since I was still on my side on the bed and facing away from him, so it felt awkward in my own position.He finally saw my leg, the gauze there on my leg and how it was tapped down to hide my stitches.

 

He sniffled, having me look at him in concern.

 

"Richie?" I asked him now as he was sniffling in in front of me.I turned my body to face him, squinted a bit now from moving my leg as I finally sat up completely and kept my leg out and straight on my bed so that it wasn't going to hurt it anymore.But as soon as I squinted the first time, it felt like Richie was the one who was hurt as he too looked uncomfortable. 

 

"I wanted to come sooner to see ya…but," Richie looked off, already sounding broken about it as I could see at least one tear slipping from his eye down to cheek.He tried to move it away from me seeing it, but I saw it too soon.

 

"It's okay," I reassured him, but he shook his head almost violently.

 

"No!" he grunted out, almost a bit too loud in the room.When he said it even his whole body shook there, "It's not okay that the fucking clown did that to you!To any of us....but not to you!You didn't do….anything…" He trailed off, not finding the right words to end that sentence as more and more tears were streaming down his face.I felt terrible that he was doing this now in front of me, having me feel as though I needed to comfort him.I reached out and grabbed his shirt since he was close enough.

 

"Come here," I said to him, tugging him and having him fall on the bed in front of me as I hugged him.He wrapped his skinny arms around me and I felt more tears hitting my shirt there that I was wearing.I didn't want him to feel bad because of what happened to me, he had nothing to do with it.But it was enough for him to see that even someone like me could get hurt by someone was evil as that clown. I hugged him close, not saying anything to him for a moment or two now as we were just quiet there in my room.

 

"I'm okay, Richie," I reminded him softly with the both of us together there on my bed.He said nothing, his tears were turning into sniffles and then nothing else on his end.I never saw him this broken before, not over any of his friends since he would brush it all and not thinking about it too much. 

* * *

 

 

August came like a mist.

 

None of the Losers were getting together, at least that's what I knew.We were giving each other some space since the incident on Neibolt Street.I would see Richie every once in a while, and it scared me that he wasn't going to be as social with the others, even me since it was in his nature to be the social one.He went back to playing in the arcade and keeping to himself, which bothered me because of how he was easy with the notion of not being around the others.It was odd that we weren't together as a group, it was the first time that this really happened.

 

I didn't like it.

 

I was still trying to get on the good graces of my mother, knowing that it was going to be a long end for me to get back on her good side.I would help out with the hospital work within the long hours there in the early night.Even at times when she didn't ask me to come in and help her, I would.It was the best way for me to show her some attempt of no longer being in trouble.I could tell it was slowly working, seeing her watch me get the papers together without a hint of agitation or reluctance. 

 

Eddie barely had time to be out and about, since his mother placed him on lockdown.I felt bad that he had to go through all of that ordeal, seeing the scowl on his mother's face when he was discharged from the hospital.He looked like a puppy who was kicked hard in the stomach, being dragged out of the room by his good arm all thanks to his mother.I watched from behind my mother's main desk, seeing how both Eddie and his mother were walking through the lobby and my mother was watching her like a hawk from in front of her desk.His mother huffed, looking at my mother and was about to say something to her when my mother stared at her back.She flushed, already seeing the stiff stance my mother had and she mentally could tell this was not going to be a battle that she would win from yelling. 

 

But then she saw me, sitting in almost a vulnerable state and my eyes going big.She pointed her finger at me now, a look of death there on her face.Eddie looked in horror as I was clutched my hands in my lap, not knowing what to do.

 

"You and your little friends stay away from my Eddie!" She said to me in her venomous tone as she took a step towards me, dragging Eddie behind me like a rag doll and her look was as if she could rip me in pieces, "You and your filthy ways are corrupting my son—"

 

My mother instantly stood in front of the desk now, blocking my way from her and she crossed her arms in front of her and almost towered in front of Eddie's mother.She was barely taller than her, and yet she was standing in the same manner that she would stand in when a patient was not cooperating with her.It was the stance of death: whoever she was giving that stance to was not going to live to tell the tale.

 

"I would advise you to be quiet in front of my child and shut your fat ugly mouth, Sonja," She said to her in her deep nurse tone, Eddie's mother looking flustered since someone talked back to her and had the nerve of not being flustered.

 

"How dare you!" She said in a shriek, the other nurses around the area were looking now from the noise, "Who do you think you are?!"

 

"I'm in charge of this hospital and this ward, so I do have the right to throw you out of this hospital and not give you any more proper treatment." My mother informed her, "If you ever insult my daughter again or even come as close to touching her Mrs. Kaspbrak, I assure you that you are not going to have either yourself or anyone else in your family be administered here in this hospital, or this county for that matter, for the rest of your life.You can rest assured."

 

There was no sound in the room, having me look at my mother in shock now since she was standing so still and not moving an inch because of how close she was to beating the women there senseless.I watched as Eddie' mother said nothing, knowing that she was not going to win this fight.She then turned on her heel before she gave me one lat death glare and walked out with her son on tow.

 

I watched as Eddie looked at me over his shoulder once more, seeing the hurt on his face was enough for me to know that he hated what his mother said about me.I wanted to shout out at him, I wanted to hug him, I wanted to just tell him something.

 

But nothing came out.

 

I was mostly on my own throughout most of August now, just thinking of how I was ever going to survive without my friends around me.Maybe we were all thinking the same thing: we were going to have to go on with our lives without the others there.It was odd that something as powerful as a demon in the shape of the clown would drive us apart….make kids who were as close and thick as thieves became so distant and unnoticing of the others.I hated it, and yet I couldn't do anything about it.

 

The worst was not being around Richie.

 

We were always together in some way or another since we were seven years old, but it was feeling more like a raise under my skin since we weren't together constantly anymore.In fact, it felt like he was avoiding me in some way since I got hurt at the Neibolt House.I could tell there was something inside of him screaming out to be away from me, to avoid me, and yet he was listening to it.All the time before I was hurt he didn't care what others thought of me of how I thought of myself, he would stick by my side.But now, something changed and I have hated that feeling of not being his full attention anymore.

 

The distaste was aching.

 

It wasn't until one night when it all went wrong.

 

I remember waking up with the funniest sensation that I needed to be awake.Something inside of me was warning me to be awake, telling me that a shift was starting to happen to me.I couldn't pinpoint what kind of feeling that was taking over, but I had to sit up in my own bed.The summer wind from outside was coming through my window and nothing else was heard.My mother had to be have been in bed at the time, having me wonder why I was wide awake.

 

I walked through the hallway and down the stairs onto the first floor, instantly hearing the soft humming sound of some kind of movement outside.It almost seemed like a whisper that was in the back of my mind and was telling me over and over, telling me something that almost seemed muffled. 

 

 

I got closer to the back door that would lead to the small fenced in backyard that we had behind our house, the whispering and murmuring that I was hearing suddenly stopped and I froze at the door, thinking already that it was all something that happened to my head and nothing else.Was I too tired?Was this whole thing that was with the clown making me go crazy within my own head.If only I was still on talking terms with the others and I could tell them what was happening within my own head. 

 

I pushed the door open, seeing nothing out there in the open of the backyard.The soft humming of the fireflies and crickets were the only things that were heard there within the small area.I wondered really then, seeing nothing at first if I really was out of my mind.But something moved, almost like a squeak.It made me freeze and an object, shining from the light of the back porch light, floated to the middle of the yard and then froze.I lost my voice and my eyes were wide like saucers.

 

A red balloon.

 

I turned on my heel and I felt someone grab my throat within an instant, everything going black.All I remembered, where yellow eyes.


	15. Was She Safe?

**Richie's POV**

 

 

"Damn," I muttered as I saw I lost another level of the game I was playing.I wasn't playing my best game session there in the arcade.It was my third day in the row coming to the arcade and spending several hours and too many quarters that I collected and stole just to be on my own. 

 

I didn't want to be around the others since we escaped that hell house.I hated all that happened in that shitty house, seeing Eddie break his arm and screaming like he was in pain, seeing that room full of clowns and dolls that were all watching me, and then finally, seeing what happened to Molly.

 

Damn, Molly.

 

If there was one person that should have been hurt with this whole shit hole of a situation, it was Molly.She didn't need this, we all didn't need this, but her most of all.She was the good one out of our whole group, making me look more like someone who sprouted out from hell in comparison to her.Even her mother was a fucking nurse and was raising her all by herself, not to mention having to deal with all the shit that she went through because of something her dad did to her when she was just a little kid. 

 

I hated it, now with all the shit she went through, she was still someone who was beyond kind and keeping me in check from my own tangents and tantrums.She knew me better than anyone, even Eddie didn't know me as well as Molly did.She knew who I would think,what would make me tick and how to shut me up before I would say something off or inappropriate. 

 

I pushed in another quarter and started another round, thinking of how I was seeing Molly driving off in the back fo Eddie's car and heading to the hospital.I saw her face there, a look of pure shock and pain as blood was going down her leg from that clown slashing her.That fucking clown, I wanted it to kill it for what it did to not only Eddie and Georgie, though in my head I was telling myself that Georgie was killed by it, then the straw broke when I saw Molly's leg.

 

He hurt Molly.

 

_"I'm just saying, let's face facts, real world!Georgie is dead, stop trying to get us killed too!"_

 

_"Georgie's not dead!"_

 

_"You couldn't save him, but you can save yourself."_

 

_"No!T-t-t-t-take it back, you're scared.We all are scared but take it back."_

 

_"No, I won't!You brought this on, and look what happened to Ben!Look at what happened to Eddie, for Molly for Christ's sake!FUCKING MOLLY, BILL!"_

 

I kept playing the game, replaying the argument over and over in my head as I was moving onto another level on the game that I was still playing, the joystick moving a rougher now as I was hearing my own voice in my head saying it over and over.I knew that I deserved that punch he gave me, my big mouth about his little brother being dead, but I was also mad because of how Molly was caught in the middle of all of this.None of us should have been messing with this and the stupid clown, but Molly most of all.

 

I didn't want Molly hurt.Gah, it was the worst feeling. Wait….was she my friend in my mind?

 

Did I like her?Was I feeling some sort of way about her?I knew her for the past few years and nothing really seemed to be out of place with the both of us when we were together.But I guess, seeing her talk to Stan a few moments more than she would talk to me, or when I saw her in that bathing suit that she wore to the quarry before she jumped in after Beverly.I felt that strange shift within my chest, right after we thought that clown was about to attack us in Bill's garage. When I was hugging her and felt her pressing her against me in order to keep her safe.Wait, keep her safe? 

 

What the hell?Was I possessive?

 

"Richie!" I heard Bill calling out to me as I was getting into another level, still in the zone and trying not to look at Bill as he rushed over to stand next to me. 

 

"It has her!" he said, having me scoff at him as I kept playing.

 

"What are you talking about?"

 

"It has Beverly," 

 

I looked over at him now, seeing the serious look on his face as I was re-thinking what he just said.I was never on board with Beverly being in our group, even with her shaking things up and moving things around within our own group and our own vibe.The only real reason that I was willing to put up with her was the fact that she was kind enough to help Molly after Patrick harassed her.She was kind to Molly, and Molly seemed to have liked her.

 

Goddamnit Molly, what were you doing to me?Speaking of which…

 

"Where's Molly?" I asked him suddenly, having him think about it for a moment or two with a bit of confusion as to why I was bringing her up in this situation.

 

"W-w-w-what?" He asked.

 

"Where….is…..Molly?" I asked.He then had it click in his head as we both bolted out of the arcade.One thing was on my mind then as we were running down the street over to her house as if Molly was safe. 

 

Was she safe?

 

* * *

 

We both stopped our bikes with our feet right in front of her house, the first thing that I noticed was that Molly's mom wasn't home.Her care was not in the driveway, she must have been called into the hospital for a long day shift and was not going to be there until late that night.I was used to her being out, which is why I would sneak in and see Molly.But this was not going to be one of those times, and yet I was thinking that I was going to see her run out of the house and ask us what was going on and why we were there in a panic.

 

"Richie—" Bill started as I was walking up to the front porch, thinking that I was about to see her coming out of the door.But I froze, seeing something there on the floor of the front porch.I was standing still, my eyes going wide and Bill joining me now as we both were seeing soothing so small there along the wood top and some blood around it.It was making me want to shout out in the void and kill this clown once and for all.I thought that wanted to kill It was bad enough when I heard about Beverly, but this was worse. 

 

It was Molly's cochlear implant, covered in blood.

 

* * *

 

**Molly's POV**

 

I slowly felt like I was already floating, wherever I was.I was slipping in and out, hearing voices in the back of my head and hearing the soft sound of water.Something felt strange as I was slowly waking up, seeing that I was within the darkness of someplace that was not, in fact, my backyard, nor was it my home.But then it felt cold underneath me, uncomfortable and cold.It was my first sign of panic. 

 

The second sign was the smell.I knew where we were now.

 

I blinked a few times, seeing things at one angle and hearing water moving around me in a trinkle.I cringed a bit now as I was trying to move my leg, feeling how it was cramped a bit and my entire body was freezing and cold.I felt my hair sticking to my skin in an unpleasant manner as I slowly got myself up, trying to get my leg to work again. 

 

Slowly blinking, I moved around to see where I was.Of course, I would be in the sewers, and yet it felt like I've been here before.There was a hint of an uneasiness that was around me like a cloud and it was making it harder for me to try to think for myself. 

 

It was dark, dark lines alone the brick and cement lines all over the place and the hinting smell of stench was hanging high in the air and below my water stained feet.I didn't know where to look and where to run in the first place, but I could tell I was over to the side of some kind of bigger room. 

 

There was a bigger cluster of some kind of trash in the middle of the room, having me see how big it was and how it was shaped like a mountain.The top of the peak fo whatever was collected in the mountain was reaching up high into the opening of the room, which seemed to be the top of some kind of land near the barrens from the look of the slivering light that was coming down into the room.But that wasn't the thing that made me look in shock, it was what was floating around the mountain there slowly on a soft rotation and as if with invisible wire.

 

More like whom.

 

There were bodies, plenty of bodies that were floating and rotating all the way around the top of the peak of clutter and they seemed lifeless.They all looked small, having me take a step forward to get a better look, but when I did I cringed in shock.I realized who those bodies were and I felt my voice leave me for a second.

 

The lost children.This is where they ended up after all.

 

Looking around, I walked over a little bit, some of my bare feet splashing in the water and having me feel colder by the second.I was trying to find my own fitting and hopefully find out where I was when I heard someone else moving on the other side of the room.I looked over in that direction with my eyes, not wanting to move as I finally saw who was there, slowly getting up and getting her own head together.

 

Beverly.

 

"Beverly?" I called out to her, seeing her get up and then look over in my direction.She was wearing one of her dresses with shorts underneath and her boots, some blood was on her dress and she looked distressed herself.She saw me finally, running over to looking relieved that someone else was there in the sewers with her.I didn't know why we both were in there in the first place, where were the others?Why just us two?

 

"What happened?" I asked her now in a harsh whisper since I felt like we were in some kind of trap there within the lower sewers of Derry, "Where are we?"

 

"I don't know," She replied in the same kind of worry as we both were looking around for some kind of way out, "I was in my house one second, and then…"She locked her eyes onto something near the other end of the room.We both saw it then too, a way out.It was a thick door that was latched into the wall, and the both of us ran over there.Beverly got there first since both of her legs were working and I was still healing from my own leg. 

 

I finally got myself over there, seeing the Beverly was trying to get the door open but it was far too heavy for her.Getting my hands there on the door, I tried to work on the door myself, but since I was far less strong then Beverly was.It was harder than I thought, but then we both froze when we heard a loud voice coming over the both of us in the room.It sounded off, almost muffled and yet warped at the same time.Both Beverly and I froze as we heard that voice, looking at each other in horror now as we then heard the source of the voice.

 

"Step right up, Beverly!Step right up, Molly!"We both looked over to some kind of broken down stage at the bunch of broken objects against the wall, the source of the voice coming from there, "Step right up!Come change, come cold!You'll laugh, you'll cry, you'll cheer, you'll die!"We both were frozen against the large door and we heard the soft sound of a jack-in-a-box turning and the tune going off in the air with the distorted voice.It was rolling its own in front of what seemed to be an old door with some colors on it that looked worn and out of place.

 

"Introducing Pennywise, the dancing clown!" I cinched in horror now as the toy stopped playing the music and a toy clown poked up in the air from the lid.it scared me slightly, but then seeing the band door fly down on the toy showed Beverly and I a stage behind it, already lit and ready for some kind of show.The fear the trickling over my back now as Beverly and I stood still in both horror and confusion.

 

Music was heard then, sounding like carnival music coming from the stage with some kind of explosion of fireworks and smoke. We both shook from the intense sound and there, right in the middle of the stage, was the clown.he was staring dead ahead, a look of intensity as he suddenly started to dance with the music.I didn't know what to do or what was going on, but I felt my hand go down and hold Beverly's hand in a death grip.She was holding it back as we were watching for a moment or so, seeing the clown just dance by itself there on the stage. 

 

I was too focused on the clown itself that Beverly was the one who made the first move and she bolted, leaving me there against the wall and she was making a run for it to another door that was slightly open and showed our way out of here.But before she could make it to the door, only halfway there across the floor, the clown jumped off the stage with a gleeful laugh and then grabbed Beverly around her throat, lifting her up and she tried to struggle.

 

"Beverly!" I screamed in fear as the clown was lifting her high with his two hands around her throat.She was struggling with his hold, trying to break free as he was snarling at her and getting her to be afraid of her. I myself was trying to not be afraid, but the way Beverly was staying true with her effort to be released was enough for me to reach down and grab something off the floor while I was staring at the clown and Beverly in class the clown was going to hurt her.I needed something in my hand to hit him with, I wasn't going to let him hurt her.

 

"I'm not afraid of you!" She hissed at the clown looking down at him now as then the clown looked beyond angry to hear that.He wanted fear in order to be powerful, and since Beverly was not going to give it to him.

 

"You will be!" he growled back at her, then having me look back in horror now as his face was suddenly changing and morphing in front of Beverly.His mouth was opening far too big now, the rows and rows of teeth and something within the back of the throat getting brighter and brighter.Now, this was the time for me to strike, get Beverly away from the clown and run out of there.I felt my fingers wrapping around some kind of pipe. 

 

I broke into a run, thinking that the clown was not focusing on me and looking up at Beverly now as I ran as fast as I could, raising the pipe over my head and around the back of the clown.I slammed the pipe against it's back and he growled, looked back at me now and Beverly looked at me in horror.I might have thought this was going to be a good thing that I did, being some kind of a hero there.But the way the clown looked at me with the rows of teeth glaring at me and the small amount of light from within its throat hitting me in the face, I froze like a corpse there a Beverly yelled out.

 

"Run, Molly!" She said in a gasp as the clown released out of its hands around her neck, slamming me hard onto the face and knocking me out cold onto the floor, once again blacking me out.The last thing I remembered was Beverly screaming out for me as I was unconscious in the sewers again. 

 

The sliver of light from its mouth, it was calling to me.


	16. Are They Supposed To Be Us?

I was walking in this dream, it felt like I was.Or maybe I was floating.I couldn't figure out the difference.

 

But the first thing I noticed was hearing voices around me, somehow something that I heard in the past from other conversations that I had with the others, but those conversations were coming back almost like a memory.I remember hearing them, all of those talks and how they were all somehow fitting together like a puzzle piece. 

 

While I was walking, I was in some kind of room filled with white.There was no floor and no ceiling above me or beneath me, just white all over and it almost felt like it was a haze of some sort.I had no idea which direction I was going or if there was a precise place that I was supposed to be going, but I kept walking.The voices and murmurs that I was hearing before were getting louder and more intense now as I was hearing them above and around me.

 

 

_"A Clown…Yeah, I saw it too."_

 

_"27 years…."_

 

_"Kids are worse….way worse…"_

 

_"I can't imagine anything ever wanting to live there…"_

 

 

I knew those voices, and yet somehow they sounded different.They were of my friends, of course, but they sounded older.Almost like they aged maybe a decade or so, being adults instead of kids.It was confusing me for a bit since I knew who they were and yet I didn't.Was this some kind of twisted way of what our older selves would sound like?Were we going to live when we were older? 

 

_"If you're crazy, then we're all crazy."_

 

_"No Richie!She's not hot!"_

 

_"You sure they got the….right stuff?"_

 

_"What the fuck is that?!"_

 

It's like I knew those voices and I was there when they said them.Well, I was, I heard all of my friends say those things.But I was still confused as hell as to why they sounded like adults now….no longer children.They were getting louder and louder now as I was still walking and looking around for some kind of source of the voices.There wasn't a source, but my feet were still moving without me realizing it and I wondered then where in fact I was going.Wait….was I dead?Was this what it was going to be like if I died? 

 

Did I die?

 

"Molly….oh shit Molly!Can you hear me?"

 

I heard a more distant voice, I knew that voice.it sounded desperate and almost on the brink of tears.I looked around to hear that voice again, thinking that if I found out where that voice was and how to get there, that I would leave this place, or whatever it was really.It was harder than I thought, given the circumstance I was in and how there was literally nothing for me to go off on.But I heard it again, and this time it was closer than the others that I was hearing.

 

"Come on, Molly!Wake up, please!Please wake up, Molly!"

 

"Richie?" I asked allowed int he white room, hearing my voice echo a bit there in the void.I didn't hear from him again, not directly at me of course and it was starting to make me panic and get worried.I looked around some more, this time in a more frantic pace now as I was wondering what was going on.

 

"Richie?!" I called out a bit louder now with my voice getting higher and sounded crazy almost.I turned on my heel once more, then feeling my own feet stay firmly on the ground from what I was seeing in front of me.I was shocked, not ebbing able to do anything as I saw a group of 8 adults standing around and facing each other in a circle, talking to each other in murmurs and hushed whispers.They looked so intense at each other as if they were going to go somewhere that seemed important and unsafe.But I looked for a few more moments, finally seeing something familiar about them.One of the girls had flaming red hair, a man had the same blue eyes as Bill's, another man seemed timid and almost shaken like Eddie would be.It was slowly clicking together.

 

Were they supposed to be…us?

 

They all finally looked over at me now, having me see all of their faces as they watched me like they caught me intruding on their meeting.I knew all of theirs face sand eyes, they were so familiar since I grew to love them as they loved me in return.Bill's auburn hair, Eddie's timid look, Beverly's pale skin, Ben's strong jaw, Mike's kind strength within his shoulders,Stan's curls, and of course, Richie and his eyes on me.They were us…but when we were older.It was the last person that I saw that took my breath away,

 

Me.

 

I was older, a newer cochlear implant in my each and my smooth cheeks with my few freckles.My hair was short and I was taller, but my face almost looked the same.I knew it was me, and to see the adult version of myself now staring back at me was making me almost want to hyperventilate.Finally, after a few strong moments of no one saying anything, the adult Bill was the one who spoke up.

 

"We have to come back," He said to me his voice was strong and not one single stutter was heard from him.I looked at him in confusion now as another person, the adult Ben spoke up.

 

"We need to kill It, once and for all," he explained now from his spot next to Beverly, almost looking a giant next to her with his muscles and height.The others nodded in agreement, and it seemed like some kind of message from the future.There was nothing for me to say to them since it felt like I was hallucinating and what I could say to them would mean nothing in the end.But they were giving me looks of both seriousness and determination at the same time.

 

"Come back," they all said together, staring at me as I was finally feeling some kind of jolt against my arms as if someone was shaking me but they weren't there.I blinked once more, noticing that the only person who wasn't looking at me, or talking to me for that matter, was actually Stan.he was looking away, compared to the rest of the group who was watching me.No, he was watching something else in another part of the white rooms and before I could even ask what was going on, the adult Richie spoke up.

 

"Time to wake up, Molly," he said to me, having me feel another pull against my arms and he said it again, two more times before he opened his mouth completely and shouted it.But when he shouted it, he sounded like the thirteen-year-old Richie that I knew.

 

"WAKE UP, MOLLY!"

* * *

 

I slowly woke up, I was no longer in the white room and seeing the adult versions of ourselves.No, I was back in the sewers with a desperation looking and almost petrified thirteen-year-old Richie.He was hovering over me, his hands on my arms now as his eyes looked huge behind his big glasses.I took in a shallow breath now, breathing in the musky scent of the sewers as the others were there too.I blinked a few times, seeing a big grin on Richie's face now as I was realizing where I was and what happened.

 

"The Clown…" I said at first, confused as Richie and Stan both helped me up.Once I was sitting up completely, I looked around in a panic, "Where's Beverly?!"

 

"She's okay," Richie said in a sigh of relief as he wrapped his arms around me.I hugged him back, feeling much better than my friend was there and that he was going to be okay.I almost started to cry as I clung onto him, feeling Stan hold my shirt slightly between his fingers in reassurance.I saw Stan out of the corner of my eye, seeing some scotches or what seemed to be teeth marks on his face, or around his face exactly.Either way, he already looked shaken by something that happened to him beforehand.Richie chuckled a dry tone now as he spoke once more between us while still hugging me, "Jesus, Molly.I was scared that thing killed you."

 

"It almost did," I mumbled against his shoulder now as I was breathing out a sigh of relief.I looked past him, seeing Beverly and Ben talk to each other, Eddie sitting away from me with Mike and Stan as well as they were waiting for me to say something to them.Stan was still holding my shirt there within his fingers and yet I was wanting to tell him what I saw.How I saw him looking away as the others were wanting to come back and kill the clown off.Was it some kind of warning?Should I be afraid, as well as Stan?

 

"Where's Bill?" I asked him as I finally was being pulled up and on my feet.My bare legs and feet were shaking from being in the water, but I myself wasn't as cold since my own thoughts were racing on high speed now as I looked at Richie.He was about to speak when we heard the voice fo someone whom we didn't think we would ever hear of again.It was a younger voice, much younger than all of us now as we all turned to the source of that voice and we looked in shock.

 

"Bill, what took you so long?"

 

Georgie.

 

I looked in a wide eyes stare as Bill, holding a gun in his hand, walked over to the body of the boy that seemed to look like Georgie.He looked as if he was alive, a bit dirty all over, but alive none the less.None of us could move as Bill was facing him and looking at him with such sadness.If I was Bill in this situation, I would have thought he was alive too.The one thing I knew, that we all saw that showed that this was some kind of trick, was that there was no right arm on Georgie.

 

It was all the way off like someone took a bite out of him. 

 

"I was looking for you this whole time, I couldn't find my way outta here. He said I could have my boat, Billy." Georgie explained, Bill, giving him a sad smile.

 

"Was she fast?" He asked in a broken tone to his little brother.

 

"I couldn't keep up with it."

 

" ‘She' Georgie.They call boats, ‘she'."

 

"Take me home, Billy.I wanna go home.I miss you, I wanna be with mom and dad," Georgie pleaded with his innocent voice and looking at his older brother with his big brown eyes.I could see that Bill was trying so hard to believe that this was not his brother, and yet another part of him was trying to believe that it was his brother.Who was it exactly? 

 

"I want you more than anything to be home, with mom and dad.I miss you so much," Bill admitted in a broken tone, almost a tear coming down from his eye now as he was speaking to the boy there in front of him.

 

"I love you, Billy,"

 

"I love you too, Georgie," Bill finally said to him, taking his own deep breaths now as he finally reached up and placed the gun against Georgie's head.I lost my breath and my eyes went wide as Bill finally spoke over Georgie's whimpering. 

 

"But you're not my Georgie."

 

I slammed my eyes shut as the gun went off, hearing the soft thud of his body hitting the floor and I opened my eyes next to Richie.We all his dead body on the floor, not moving an inch now as Bill was breathing heavily with both regret and remorse.No one moved, thinking that something was going to take this whole situation out of proportion if someone moved.

 

But then, the body moved. 

 

It was shaking and screaming out, but we knew it wasn't Georgie.Even the body on the floor was morphing and changing at the same time now as we were all watching in shock as the legs were now growing longer and wider, with white clown pants and red balls on the shoes, then the clown body was appearing, slowly but surely as we were all beyond shocked to see who it was after all.He slowly got himself up on his feet and rolled his eyes back to the center, his yellow killing eyes.

 

IT.

 

 

"KILL IT, Bill!" The others were screaming at him since it was now the perfect chance to kill the thing once and for all.But Bill was frozen, not able to move now as we were all frantically begging him to shoot the clown and get this over with.Mike finally said the one thing we were all dreaming.

 

"It's not loaded!"

 

The clown smiled seeing that he was going to have the upper hand now as he launched himself at the group of us, mostly to Bill.Bill threw up the gun in front of his face, the clown latching his fangs onto the barrel and throwing Bill to the floor in hopes to eat him.We were all watching in horror as finally, Beverly grabbed one of the barbed fences that the others brought.

 

"Leave him alone!" She screamed as she tried to hit him.The clown stopped the fence in time, about to hit Beverly when Mike stood in front of her.The clown slammed him to the side now, having me hear his back slam against the ground and I ran over to at least stop him

 

"Hey!" I screamed, getting his attention how as I grabbed the gun from Bill's hand and threw it against his face.He didn't move from the blow but grabbed my arm now in retaliation as I saw his rows and rows of teeth glaring at me, hearing him shriek in anger.

 

"Molly, no!" Bill yelled as he jumped on the clown's back with another barbed fence around its throat,The clown struggled, starting to release me as Richie then hopped on his back with Stan and Ben grabbing his arms to stop him.I stood next to Eddie as they were all flung around like rag dolls at the clutches of the clown. When Richie was flung over both Bill and the clown, I panicked and ran over to him.

 

"Richie!" I said in fear as I knelt down next to him to check him.He grabbed my arm now to try and steady himself.Finally, all of them being released and Bill was being held hostage away from me.The clown had his hand around Bill's throat, and we were all frozen with the thought that this clown could kill him at any second.

 

"Let him go," Beverly said to him, almost on the verge of tears herself.

 

"No,' The clown replied "I'll take him.I'll take all of you, I'll feast on your flesh as I feed on your fear, "We were all stunned to hear it from him as he held up one finger, "Ooooorrr…you'll just leave us be.I'm taking him, only him.And then I'll have my long rest and you will all grow old and drive and lead happy lives until old age takes you back to the weeds," He explained to us, having me slowly get up from my spot and stand next to Stan, Richie still at my feet now as I was thinking of that clown wanted. 

 

Either all of us or just Bill. 

 

I was looking at Bill now, seeing the look of sadness on his face as he too heard what the clown wanted.What were we going to do?I knew what I wanted to do, but it was the fact that the others weren't moving or saying anything now that makes it scarier.

 

"Leave!" Bill said to me, still in the clutches of the clown, "I'm the one who dragged you all into this.I'm s-s-s-s-s-sorry, I'm s—s-s-s-s-sorry," He was almost on the brink of tears now as I wanted to take a step forward now as if it would help.

 

"Go!" Bill said to us now as the clown was chuckling.I took a small step, Stan reaching out to grab my arm and stop me.I looked him in shock, but his eyes were still on both Bill and the clown.What was he thinking to stop me?I didn't care that I was going to die in the process, but it wouldn't be fair to leave here Bill to die.

 

"Stan?" I asked him.

 

"Guys, we can't," Beverly said to us all now.She was the only other one that was thinking the same thing I was thinking: this wasn't was way.Richie got up from the ground, finally, facing the two of them as I was still standing next to Stan.

 

"I told you, Bill.I fucking told you," Richie explained to him in a bitter manner, "I don't want to die.It's your fault."

 

"Richie," I started with him but he went on, not listening to me.

 

"You punched me in the face, you made me walk through shitty water, you brought me to a forking crackhead house?!" Richie listed them all on his finger, pacing back and both now and sounded more furious than ever.But then he stopped, reached over to something that was int he trash heap that was on our side.

 

"And now, I gonna have to kill this fucking clown." He said in almost a growl as he pulled out a wooden baseball bat.I watched as he wielded it in front of himself as the clown threw Bill to the ground and roared at him,

 

"Welcome to the Loser's Club, asshole!"


	17. Was I Their Safety Net?

Everything started to happen all at once, and Richie took the first blow with his baseball bat. 

 

The sound was cracking as he slammed the bat against the clown, the clown roaring now as we were all taking turns with the blows of weapons that we had in our hand.I found a pip in the clutter where Richie found his bat, The clown whirling around and showing its face as a deformed woman to Stan.Stan stopped at first before he slammed his weapon to the clown and the woman was gone from its face. 

 

Mike tried to stab the clown in the front, but the mouth grabbed the weapon with its tongue and it’s wide mouth, hands shooting out that looked like burned victims and grabbed the weapon.Mike struggled and was looking at the burned hands in horror and voices were screaming out from inside the mouth. 

 

Ben finally stabbed the clown from behind the clown releasing and some of its blood floating up to the sky out as he was spazzing and almost going out of control.I looked in horror as he turned his head to face Ben, the face of a mummy was now on his face and some of the wrappings that were around its head was going around Ben to trap him.I gripped my pipe now as I could hear Ben screaming and trying to break free. 

 

Bill reached down and grabbed a large chain from the floor, running over and hitting the clown in the back of the head to release the clown from Ben. Ben moved back in a jolt now as the others were beating the clown down to its knees, taking turns and blows to make sure that the clown was not going to get a chance to fight them back. 

 

It fell to its knees and was now coughing, almost sounding gross in itself as it was facing Eddie and its face morph into some kind of distorted man, oozing with something from its mouth and it finally vomited over Eddie and he gasped and coughed it out of its mouth.We were all shocked to see it right there, and on Eddie who we already knew had a nerve for germs.But he stood up tall and looked at the clown dead in the eyes with rage within those orbs.

 

“I’M REALLY GONNA KILLL YOU!’ He screamed, his voice high and in anger as he ran and kicked the clown hard in the chest.The clown whirled around and he face Beverly, who had a bard fence on her hand and was about to strike him down when the face of the clown changed again.This time, making her freeze there, it was her father, and he was looking at her sweetly.

 

“Hey Bevvy,” He said, is voice was distorted but it sounded like her father, “Are you still my little—“

 

“AAAHH!” Beverly rammed the fence down his throat and he gasped, the pole sticking out of his mouth and he was rolling she eyes back and morphing back to the clown.We were all waiting to see what the clown was going to do, but eh then spat the pole back out as if it was nothing.

 

“Shit!” Eddie said in horror now as we were all waiting or him to once making the first move.The clown slowly looked over at me now, looking at me dead on in the face and then slowly making its way over to me.I gripped my pipe tightly within my fingers, waiting for it to make some kind of move against me since it did it with the others were in the room.

 

“Move, Molly!” Richie wanted me, but I wasn’t going to cower against the clown since it was trying to kill all o fly friends.I loved them all too much for it to try and take them from me.But the clown finally opened his mouth and i heard a voice that I didn’t think I was going to hear for year and years, not for the rest of my life.

 

“Molly…..my cripple of a daughter.”

 

Oh shit…it sounded like my father.

 

“You’ll never amount to anything…..not you…or that bitch of a mother that you have…”I could see that he was about to morph into the face of my father now as he was crawling over to me at a last attempt to kill someone there.I was frozen, already hearing that voice was taking me back to being a little girl int he back of the car, going towards what would have been my eventual death.I hated the voice, it was going to get my killed now in front of my friends since I was resorting back to being afraid of the man.And the clown knew.

 

“Molly!” Eddie gasped as the clown was close enough to claw at me with one more phrase that the clown used in my father’s voice:

 

“You’re a worthless bitch, like her.”

 

Something inwardly made me snap, and I finally gripped my pipe in a death grip now as I raised it high int he air above my own head.I didn’t care that I could die in this moment, but all that I could care about, what how I was not going to let this clown get the best of me and use my father against me.My father may have made me loose my hearing in my ear and damaged some of my childhood, but he wasn’t going to get the last piece in against myself or my mother.

 

“BURN IN HELL!” I roared, slammed the pipe down and hitting him hard in the face.The clown collapsed, slowly mrauvering his way away from me over to some kind of opening on the ground, another pipe going into the earth.The group was walking over to him now, still determined to finish him off now as Bill was the one who finally spoke up.Richie slipped his hand into my own in some ways to help me calm down.I was still replaying my father’s voice in my head, over and over again now as Bill nearly growled at the clown who was pressed against the edge and was looking at us in fear.

 

“That’s why you didn’t kill Beverly and Molly.Cause t-t-t-t-they weren’t afraid, and we aren’t either.not anymore.Now you’re the one’s who afraid, because you’re gonna starve,” Bill explained now as the clown was shaking his head, almost blubbering now and was trying to muster some kind of way to scare us now.I was still clutching Richie’s hand now as we were staring him down.The group of us took a step forward, seeing him fly over the edge backwards and land against the edge, handing on for dear life like I did in Neibolt street when he tried to kill me.We could only see the eye line and up on him, but he was muttering something.

 

“He thrusts his fists against the post, and still insists he sees the ghost.He thrust his hands against the pp-p-post.” he was mocking Bill at this point, Stan reaching over with the pipe in his hand to give it to Bill now as I could tell Bill was on the verge to kill the clown off.Bill took it in his hand as the clown went on, finally taking it in both hands and lifting it like he was about to strike.The clown slid down a bit from the sharp action, all of us rushing over to the ledge now as we were seeing his head slowly break apart.

 

The clown’s skull was broken open, brain matter and blood of some kind were lifting itself high in the air like the floating children and his head was stretching open like tape.It said nothing for a few moments while the head was breaking apart slowly and almost delicately.Finally, it said one more word as he was looking above us into the abyss.

 

“Fear.”

 

It released, falling into the darkness and we all rushed over.There was no sign of It, only the vast emptiness of the hole that it fell into and not even a single sound was heard.We were all amazed that we survived this kind of ordeal.Something within me made me almost want to collapse from being wound up too tight and my head spinning far too hard.I breathed out a shaky breath now, still hearing my father’s voice in my head, thanks to the Goddamn clown.Richie slowly looked over at menow, his big eyes behind his glasses and he could see that I was on the brink of both tears and a panic attack.

 

“Now I know what I’m going to write for my summer reflection paper,” He said to me, but the rest of the group heard now.I looked over to him from my vision being on the hole, seeing him watch me now with a serious look on my face.Now my own face was breaking out in a shaky smile and I breathe out one small laugh.Richie grinned at me as I hugged him tightly there amongst the others there in aftermath of our victory.

 

“I’m glad you saved me,” I mumbled against Richie’s shoulder now as we were hugging there, almost forgetting about the others around us. 

 

“Of course I would have saved you, Molly,” He reassured me as his lanky arms were wrapped around me, “You’re my best friend.Fuck that clown for trying to hurt you.”

 

“Never took your or having a soft spot for anyone,” I almost joked with him as he finally pulled away from me and looked at me directly in the eyes.Behind his rather large glasses that showed his big eyes, and the way he was looking at me with almost the best kind of sincerity, I could have sworn I felt butterflies on how he still had his hands on my arms and we were still close enough that it would seem intimate.

 

“Only for you, Harper,” He would say this to me plenty of times, even when we would be with the others and he would do me some kind of favor.Those times he would say it as a joke, but not this time.This time, the way he spoke and said it to me was so serious and yet so gentle at the same time it was almost shocking for me to hear.It was like he was saying some kind of vow to me, and only I could hear it compared to the others. 

 

I saw Bill move over to wrap his arms around Beverly now as I felt Richie grab my arm to at least give me some kind of grounding in what I was feeling.I could breathe a sigh of relief now as Eddie spoke up for the group of us, still covered in goop or vomit.

 

“G-g-g-guys,” He said to us, looking up as we were slowly doing the same.We were seeing what he was seeing, “The bodies are floating down.”And they were, slowly as if the sir was going out of them and they were coming back down to the ground.I wondered if I was going to recognize any of those bodies that were finally being released from the trappings of the clown, but out of the corner of my eye I could see Bill walking away from us now to something against the cluster of things that the clown collected.I was still staying close to Richie now, feeling as if I couldn’t move around that much anymore from all the I went through as Bill grabbed something within his hands.We all looked finally, and every single one of our hearts broke from what was within his fingers and how he was kneeling on the floor.

 

Georgie’s yellow rain coat.

 

I didn’t know who it was that much first over to him, but we all saw that he was kneeling over the raincoat and he was finally weeping.He was crying over the fact that his brother was in fact dead, Goergie was not going to come back no matter how hard he thought he was going to get him back.Bill wasn’t going to have his younger brother back in his life, and we were feeling as though we lost our own little brother as well.We all knelt around him, wrapping our arms around him and not letting him go as he was letting out his sadness there in the sewers.There was no one else to judge him or tell him they told him so, it was just the Losers all gathering to let him know that he was not alone. 

 

He was never alone.

* * *

 

 

Word got out about the murders, and Henry was the main suspect.

 

Apparently he went after Mike and the others before they made their way into the sewers to get myself and Beverly.He killed his father at their home with his father’s switchblade, and no one was going to argue that he did all of this since he had it coming.He said nothing as the cops arrested him the next morning after we came out of the sewers. He was also accused of kidnapping both myself and Beverly, people thinking that we were going to be his next victims since he had a personal vendetta against the both of us. 

 

My mother thought I was long gone, and when the police reported that Henry kidnapped me, I was going to have to keep my mouth shut.For one, no one was going to believe that a clown was about to kill me in the sewers.A clown was already sounding too far fetched, let along feeling adults that a demon clown was the main reason that the kids were dying,

 

Secondly, Henry was already on thin ice and we’ve learned never to talk back to the adults in Derry.Something about adults both scared me and made me uneasy, since they were never one to either care about the kids or even listen to the kids.Were they even gong to listen to us at all? 

 

After we came out of the sewers and Henry was arrested, things were slowly going back to normal.There weren’t any more disappearances of children, and things were almost going back to they way they were before Georgie disappeared.We were seeing the rhythms coming back in the town, almost in a creepy manner thinking that this last summer never happened to begin with.But all the Losers were still remembering, we were still re-living those moments with the clown and those times we thought we were close to dying. 

 

Beverly’s father was arrested for almost hurting his daughter to the point of death.There were going to be arrangements for her to find a relative that she could stay with, but until then my mother volunteered for her to stay with us at our home.I was more than happy, the spare room that we had next to my room was where she was going to stay for the next few weeks.I could tell she was glad to have a warm belly of food at night for dinners, and even a bedroom that was all her own without a lock on the top to keep to herself.In fact, she would fall asleep with the door open since she knew she was dafe enough. 

 

My mother treated her like a second daughter, which I didn’t mind because I knew if I was alone with my mother, the worrying and heckling from her would never stop.I already answered the same questions over and over like a record player going around and around, it having Beverly there next to me was plenty enough for me to not even remember, 

 

Even with a roof over her head and a supporting mother figure, Beverly would still sneak into my room late in the night and we would both stay awake for the sake of not wanting to go through another round of nightmares.We even feel asleep on the bed together at least once, having em wonder if my mom found us like that.She said nothing about it, but I knew we weren’t making it seem like we were getting better. 

 

The others were trying to get better themselves, we would even meet at Mike’s house every once in awhile just to be around each other and soak in the fact that we survived.Bill was still mourning and we would give him enough space, thinking that he wouldn’t want to be around us.Yet he would some even we would lay out together in the grass, looking up at the summer sky as it was descending to the cool autumn air.I remember seeing him in silence away from the rest of us, even Beverly was giving him space as he was thinking and clutching his own shirt within his fingers.I stayed close to the other, not wanting to break his own sense of peace. 

 

One of those nights, while Beverly was asleep in her own room and I was about to be asleep, I could hear a rustling against my window now and I didn’t move.at this point I knew who would be coming in without knocking anymore, and I waited until I could hear his feet touch the floor and the window stay slightly open.He feet were paddling over to the side of my bed, and I was already wrapped in my blanket on one side of the bed before I finally turned myself to face him.

 

He was wearing one of his jackets over his regular clothes, his glasses were on the tip of his nose now as he was watching me with bags under his eyes.I could see how he was trying to recover himself, and it wasn’t working since his shoulders were sagging and his skin was once again pale.We were all trying to recover ourselves, but seeing him in front of me was enough to show me that the toll was getting even to those who seem the strongest.

 

“Come here, Richie,” I finally said to him, already half asleep.He slid off his glasses and moved to lay down in front of me on the bed.I wasn’t thinking on how my mother would be coming in at any minute, yet she was fast asleep in her room.Nor was I contemplating on how the boy who I might have a huge crush on was laying across from me.I was only worried about the boy across from me who wasn’t getting enough sleep, and who was still reliving those harsh memories from weeks before. 

 

He got his head against the pillow, his dark hair haloing around his head against my gray pillow now as he was facing me and I could see the bit of relief on his face.I smiled at him, watching as he was already trying to go to sleep and sleep was clearly winning.Neither one of us move, nor did we want to move.He sighed as his eyes were starting to droop now as he even said one more thing to me.

 

“Is your mom gonna be mad?” He asked in a grumble now as his eyes were drooping.

 

“No, not unless you make noise,” I said in a yawn as I snuggled into my blanket.I kept one eye on him now as he was nearly there being dead asleep, “You can’t sleep at your house?”

 

“No,” He replied in a mumble now as he snuggled a bit closer to me now as he smiled slightly, “I feel safe here with you.”

 

I said nothing now as he was already sleeping, a slight snore broke out in my room but I was replaying what he said to me.He was feeling safe with me, compared to the others who I knew were ten times braver than me and stronger than me.Self doubt was still part ofmy life, but not anymore with Richie across from me and seeking safety and peace with me.Was that what I brought to the group? 

 

Was I their safety net?


	18. Ready?

**September 1989**

It was once again September for us in Derry, and we were going back into another year at school. Whispers of the children who disappeared were no longer on the minds of adults and kids, it was scary how fast people weren't looking back in the past again o find out what really happened. But we all knew, we all it all first hand and was just trying to move on from all that happened.

After the plenty of weeks of us just trying to forget, we knew we all had to talk about it. So one of the afternoons right before school was going to start, we all met near the barrens and the train tracks, It was a water afternoon before the fall weather would permanently set in. We were all still shaken up from what we witness and endured in those sewers, and because of that, we haven't even been close to the sewers. I didn't even want to go down there ever again in fears that I was going to relieve those moments with that clown….and how he was impersonating my father.

I could still hear his voice in the back of my head.

Beverly got word that her Aunt that lives in Portland was able to get a room ready for her at her Aunt's house, just in time for us to go into school. She was going to leave within days, and with that in mind, we were trying to hang out together more and more before we were about to be broken off. Beverly was going to have a new life, away from here and away from her father who was never seen or heard from again. Apparently, the things he wanted to do to her was enough to have him locked up just as bad as Henry was locked up in the insane asylum. We were just glad that Beverly was going to have some kind of happen ending after all, but away from us, that seemed too much.

"Maybe you can come to visit me out there," Beverly said to me as she was placing her things in her one suitcase that she brought when she came to my house weeks ago. I sat at the edge of her bed that she occupied as she was having a small smile on her lips and a hop in her step with this new move upon her. I had to smile, feeling as though I should be happy for her and yet I wasn't.

"I could, of you could just stay here and not let me be the only female now in the group," I reminded her, seeing her chuckle now as she looked her eyes at me.

"I think you can handle them," She replied as she finally gave up and sat down on the side of the bed next to me. I looked at her things in her suitcase, seeing what little things she had but it was suiting for her since it was mostly her comfortable clothes and her one pair of boots.

"You know," Beverly said to me now, breaking our silence now, "I was…kind of jealous that you had them as friends….before I got to hang out with you guys."

"What are you talking about?" I asked her with my eyebrow raised. He thought about it for a moment or so before she grinned at me from ear to ear.

"I've seen how the others would watch you…..not in a weird way….but like they appreciate you," Beverly explained to me now as we were sitting side by side now, having me watch her rethink her thoughts in her head over and over again now, "You get real true friends like those guys. I guess I've always wanted that…even with those rumors about me floating around and making me see…slutty to be fair."

"But they appreciate you too," I reminded her, "None of them believe those rumors….well…it took Richie some convincing, but the others still appreciate and accept you,"

"It's different with me," She countered, "I kind of stumbled into being with you guys, almost inviting myself in," I was about to argue with her but she shook her head and kept going.

"But with you, they wanted to be with you," I paused, saying nothing as she was explaining this to me, "Bill told me how they became friends with you mostly because of Richie…but they knew you were kind enough to not judge them. They needed you with them, and I saw that and I wanted that too to be me,"

"Even after all that happened to you and what you went through, I don't think I would have wanted to stay kind after that, and you did," She explained some more as I was looking at my hands on my lap now and I tried to digest all that she was saying to me. She placed one of her freckles hands on top of my own and I could see saw dot there and how they were looking like constellations.

"You don't have to say all these nice things to me, Beverly," I reminded her, thinking that she was saying here things there between the both of us and the others weren't there.

"I do," She answered, "Because you tried to save me down there with that clown, you tried to get It away from me…and if you weren't there…I think I would have died," I looked at her now, seeing how serious she was and how she was watching me with some solemn look on her face. She squeezed our hands there on my lap and she gave me a genuine smile, "You were my first real friend, Molly. I don't want you to think of yourself as anything less than a good true friend,"

I tried not to cry at that moment, but it was something that I needed in hear in the recent years when it came to being a good friend. I didn't think of myself as more than a friend to the boys, let alone to Beverly when she came into our circle. Yet they saw me as more than that and they wanted me to be there for them. I finally breathed out slowly as she wrapped her arms around me and I hugged her gently on my bed.

"Thank you for being yourself, Molly." She said to me as we hugged each other. I didn't know if I was ever going to see her again, let alone hear from her again. That made me a little more nervous since I considered her a friend and I didn't want to lose any more friends. But I stayed quiet, hugging her close and just letting the moment sink in.

I was going to miss Beverly Marsh

* * *

  
"I only remember parts, but….I thought I was dead."

We were all sitting in a circle, listening to Beverly as we were hearing what she saw with the white lights when we both were in the sewers. I was sitting across from her, next to Richie and Stan now as we were finally talking about it. Stan was still recovering from his attack by the clown, wrappings around his jaw and on his head to hide the marks, having me think that he was feeling shame from what he went through.

"That's why it felt like. I saw us, saw us together, back in the cistern," Beverly explained, trying to remember from her spot, "But we were older…I mean our parents' age."

"W-w-w-what were we all doing there?" Bill asked her.

"I just remember how we felt, how scared we were. I don't think I could forget that" Beverly replied to him, having me remember back to what I saw within my own vision. I was quiet then, her eyes looking at me now from across the circle, "Molly, did you see something?"

"I saw us too," The others were looking at me now as I was instinctively tapping my cochlear implant without even thinking about it since it was making me so nervous, "We were all in a circle, talking about something. But we were adults like Beverly said. We were all there, and they saw me."

I didn't know if I should talk about the last part, how our adult versions of ourselves saw me and told me to kill the clown, that we had to in order to save everyone. Was that going to be too far? Would I be a little too crazy with that piece of information? I looked at the rest of them, seeing them think to themselves now as Richie reached up to grab my fingers that were tapping my implant. He kept my hand in his, placing it back down between us. Looking at our joined fingers, I felt a bit better then since Richie was looking out for me and making sure that I wasn't going to hurt myself or get myself worked up.

Bill shot up from his spot in the circle, looking determined in the eyes now as he was looking off in the distance and thinking to himself.

"Swear," he began, "Swear, if IT isn't dead, if IT comes back, we'll come back too," he told us. having me think to myself about what he was saying. He wanted us to come back if the clown does, to make sure that we would make sure IT didn't hurt another soul or another child. Bill was thinking of his brother and how he was too late to save him, but he didn't want another child to be lost or murdered. We had a small chance of being victorious, and we weren't afraid of IT. With that in mind, Bill knew that we could it again when the times comes.

That afternoon, we took the blood oath.

I sliced my palm, squinting from the impact now as I was seeing the blood trickling down my hand and a few drops getting on the grass beneath my feet. Richie took my hand in his, having me feel both of our palms that were pierced and sliced open. We watched as the others were doing the same, one by one, and we were all standing in the circles looking at each other to show that we were in this together.

I knew I would come back in a heartbeat if that demon returned, I would come back not just to get revenge on what IT did to me, but for the fact that I wanted to protect my friends so that they wouldn't fall to the same fate as those who did. The others would too, I knew deep within my heart that they would come back for any of us if we were in trouble. It made me remember what Beverly told me sometime earlier before we came to meet with the boys, that they appreciated me being their friend and someone they can be with.

* * *

 

  
"Thanks for walking me back to my house."

"Sure thing. No one wants to walk home alone these days anywho."

"But your house is the opposite way, Richie."

"I know! But I know that you just seem like you need someone to walk with."

Richie and I walked side by side back to my house, both of our hands were wrapped with a piece of his bandana that he had on his backpack. Richie tore it in two and gave me some of his in order to stop the bleeding. After our meeting with the others and how we swore to come back together to defeat the demonic IT, Richie wanted to walk me home. My mom was at work for another hour or so, so it was the perfect time to head home and wrap my sliced palm before she would see.

"I think my mom's on the verge of grounding me for life when she sees another wound on me," I admitted to him as we walked around the corner and I could see my house in the distance.

"Yeah, my mom and dad weren't stoked to hear we were down in the sewers," He replied back to me as we were shoulder to shoulder now, walking almost in unison.

"Did you tell them what happened?" I asked curiously.

"Yeah, I couldn't tell them the actual truth," Richie replied back to me in a snort, "They would think I was crazy."

"What did you tell them?"

"That you were kidnapped, same with Beverly, and we were trying to find you. Which was true….almost 80 percent true," I nodded, looking ahead and shoving my hands in my back packets now. Richie was looking at me from the corner of my eye while our feet were walking along the asphalt.

"You know, down there when we were fighting that thing…what the clown said….as your dad…" he tried to find the right words, but I shook my head.

"I don't want to talk about it," I replied smoothly back to him, thinking that it would end the conversation. But Richie kept going.

"You have to know that IT was trying to get a rise out of you, out of all of us," He reassured me, "So what he did to you wasn't true."

"Please, Richie," I almost begged him, wanting him to drop the subject now since it was still aching in my heart what I had to go through. Richie grabbed my hand and we both stopped, looking at each other and having me make a fist at my side. I hated thinking about my father, and what he did to me, and how I was not completely a full person because of him.

"Molly," He said to me, seriousness in his eyes and in his voice now that I thought I would never experience with Richie, "I saw that look on your face when that clown talked to you. I saw that you were afraid, and don't tell me you weren't because I can read you like a book," I didn't say a word now as he shifted his stance and took in another deep breath before he kept talking, "I want you to know, that I never saw you as someone who was afraid of him. Not anymore, hell not since we were kids. You are brave, braver than anyone of there in the sewers. With all the shit that guys did to you, you didn't even blink twice."

"Why are you telling me this, Richie?" I asked him suddenly, not understanding how he was telling me all of these things after we were in the sewers. It wasn't like him to be all sappy with me, at least not until recently when we were dealing with this clown and trying to stay alive. Because of that, it felt like we were getting closer as friends, and new feelings were starting to arise and become a part of my heart that I didn't know were there and that existed.

Richie didn't say anything at first, he was thinking far too hard in his head now as he finally gave me one of his smaller smiles.

"I just wanted you to know since I thought…I thought I was going to lose my friend down there and that would have….would have killed me," He explained, having me breathe out slowly and feel some weight that mason Richie's shoulder go on my own then. I squeezed his hand on my own now as I gave him a warm smile. I knew all of this was hard and tearing us up in pieces, but to see this side of Richie, all because he thought he lost me forever, was enough to have me to want to at least comfort him.

"I'm always here for you, Richie," I reminded him, seeing him give me a reassuring grin now, "I'm not going anywhere." I knew we needed each other to lean on and to just live with each other. Ever since we were 7 years old together on the playground, it was enough for me to know that Richie and I would be going through life through thick and thin.

"Come on, we can grab a coke and watch a movie," I replied to him, letting his hand go and started to walk. Richie walked behind me, having me wonder why he wasn't up next to me now as we were approaching my house. I wanted to move on from what we all saw and experienced, thinking ti was all behind us and we never had to think about IT too much again.

If only.

* * *

 

**Current Day**

"Ladies and Gentlemen, we are making our descent into Boston. Please keep your seat belts on and your tray tables in their upright position. Thank you for flying with us, and welcome to Boston."

I snapped back into reality from my recent thoughts, seeing the plane starting to go down onto the city that we were flying to. I was re-visiting all of those memories in my head now since our plane was finishing up, we were going to hop on a train next and make our way up into Maine. It was surreal that I was re-visiting those moments from that summer and now they were vivid in my brain. I could feel those moments, even smell them if I could concentrate hard enough. But now I was older, going back to a place I never thought I would have to go back to again.

"Ready?" I looked over at Richie, an adult Richie now as he was sitting up in his seat and his hands folded over his lap. I had to re-think how he looked as a kid, his big glasses and his wild hair, with his big smile and big view on life around him. It was odd and scary that we both were going to go back to a place that almost got us killed. Was I ready?

I thought back to that talk we were having when we were done making our blood oath with the others, how he called me brave and how he didn't want me to think of myself as anything less. It made me grow fond of him, beyond fond of him since no one else could ever see me in that light beside my mother. The others did, of course, since Beverly reminded me before she moved out to Portland. But hearing it from Richie was different, it felt different and it seemed different.

I peered down at my open palm, seeing the sliced scar there and how it was glistening in the airplane light. I made that promise to help them, that promise to go and fight with them if IT came back and to never go against them or back down from them. I nodded my head slowly at him, giving him a small smile.

"Ready."

  
The End.

 

**Chapter Two Coming Soon....**

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you for following, reading, and loving this story! I'll write the sequeal when the Chapter Two comes out next year, I promise! But you guys loving this story is enough for me to write it for sure! Once again, Thank you!!!


	19. Author's Note

Hello friends! I had a very interesting thought to the second installment of this series.

After seeing the teaser trailer for IT Chapter 2, I kind of want to edit this story and get some of the storyline out of the way so it can be ready and appropriate for the second movie. But it’s also up to you guys, so please let me know!!


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